


Mike's Wild Adventure

by PerkyGoth14



Category: Mike Lu & Og, Wild Thornberrys
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:20:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23625277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: After Mike ran away from CN City and ended up in The Pridelands, she runs into the Thornberry family including Eliza, who she was once roommates with at the Nicktoons Summer Beach House. She then joins the family in their travels after being unsure of returning back home and ends up having quite a wild misadventure with Eliza after meeting the family for the first time.
Relationships: Debbie Thornberry/Josh Nichols, Tuesday X/Drake Parker





	1. Chapter 1

It was a normal day in Cartoon Network City. Though in reality, it was not. The Eds had recently discovered that Mike was not in the house anymore and had mysteriously vanished the next morning and has been out of town since. That was very unlike her, especially considering how close she was with the Eds and they almost always slept over with her and vice versa Friday nights after Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. The Eds were currently rushing over to everywhere they could go for some help.

"What can the Mayor do for you boys?" Ms. Bellum asked the trio. "Do you need someone to speak at your school?"

"Erm... No... Actually, this is a bit more important." Double D replied.

"Oh, it can't be more important than November 14th, that day means more to me than anything else that might be important!" The Mayor replied.

"Uh... November 14th?" Double D asked. "Is that Mayor Election Day like when the grown-ups voted for Fuzzy Lumpkins over you?"

"No, no, more important than that!" The Mayor replied.

"Uh... Anniversary with your wife?" Eddy shrugged.

"Still more important than that!" The Mayor told them.

"Buttered Toast Day?" Ed smiled hopefully.

"NO! None of that!" The Mayor replied.

"We give up," Double D said. "What's more important that happens on November 14th?"

"Why, it's _National Pickle Day_ of course!" The Mayor said like it was obvious before he took out a jar to show them. "It may be a Dill, Gherkin, Kosher Dill, Polish, Hungarian, Lime, Bread and Butter, Swedish and Danish, or Kool-Aid Pickle. Surely you know the most important national holiday to honor mankind's favorite food!"

The Eds fell together from that proclamation.

"I think the boys have something more important to discuss with you, Mayor," Ms. Bellum said. "Boys, perhaps _I_ could be of some assistance?"

The Eds then stood back up together.

"Yeah, well, it's about Mike." Eddy replied.

"Oh, that kid with his imaginary friend are harmless," The Mayor replied. "Sure, that blue fella might be reckless, but I'm sure he means well."

"No, that's Mac Snyder, Mayor." Ms. Bellum replied.

"Oh, uh, I knew that." The Mayor then said.

"It's about Mike Mazinsky," Eddy reminded. "Maybe ya heard of her?"

"Our very good and best friend." Double D added.

"And Eddy's girlfriend!" Ed proclaimed.

"Shut up, Stupid!" Eddy complained from that.

"Oh, we thought she would be with you," Ms. Bellum said. "She isn't?"

"No, we had a sleepover a week ago and she was just gone the next morning," Eddy said. "We went to the hotel and The Red Guy hadn't seen her since she left for our sleepover... Then the Powerpuff Girls said they saw her coming over... It's just like nobody's seen Mike since our sleepover after Cartoon Cartoon Fridays."

"Oh, I'm sorry, boys, I'm afraid I haven't seen her," The Mayor shrugged. "Why don't you ask her parents?"

Everybody grew dead silent from that option, though the Mayor didn't seem to realize what he just said.

"Please, run along," The Mayor told them. "I'm a very busy man, ya know."

"We understand," Double D said. "Running a city is a very tough job."

"No, I mean, I gotta learn how to tie my shoes!" The Mayor replied as he tried to touch his toes, but struggled a little. "Do you know how tedious that is when you're my age? It's a wonder that I don't throw my back out!"

The three Eds looked deadpan from that before they left the Mayor's office.

* * *

"Well, that was a bust," Eddy groaned. "Where could she be?"

"I'm not sure how much help this would be, but maybe we should ask Lu and Og?" Ed spoke up.

"...That actually might help," Double D replied. "Nobody knows Mike better than Lu and Og."

"Perhaps she just came down with the flu and went to see them to feel better and that's why no one's seen her." Eddy suggested.

"Let's go then!" Ed called out.

* * *

They soon left the city and came over to the currently closed down Cartoon Cartoon Summer Resort and rented a boat to leave the docks to visit the island away from the main city which was where Lu and Og lived, along with their parents and Old Queeks. Also the Cuzzlewitz, but we don't talk about that family in Lu's presence.

"Oh, hello, dears~" Marjorie beamed. "It's nice to have some visitors."

"Hey, Marjorie." The Eds greeted the island woman.

"I am the Princess Lu and I welcome you to my-" Lu beamed as she walked by as Lancelot fanned her before she saw that it was the Eds which made her roll her eyes. "Oh, it's just you three."

"We apologize for intruding, but we came here to ask you something." Double D smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, well, you can ask the princess anything about her," Lu smirked a bit. "My favorite snack is fried bananas, I use coconut milk to keep my hair silky and shiny, my favorite color is grass green, and I enjoy long walks by the beach at sunset and-"

"No, no, no, we ain't got time for all of that!" Eddy cut her off with a glare. "Where's Mike?!"

"Mike?" Lu acted. "Mike who? We don't know a Mike, right, Lancelot?"

Lancelot nodded his head which made Lu growl at him.

"Oh, I'm afraid Mike isn't here, dears," Marjorie said to the boys. "Doesn't she usually spend the weekends with you three?"

The Eds groaned as their search in finding Mike was getting them nowhere.

* * *

Eventually, the Eds asked everyone that they could about where Mike was. Sarah just rolled her visible eye as she now wore an eyepatch over the other one due to a recent injury she received which she felt like wasn't her fault at all. The Eds didn't bother asking her because what good would that do other than getting lost all the time? The Eds soon went to Eddy's house to sulk as they didn't know where Mike was and they had no way of finding her.

"This sucks!" Eddy groaned. "What are we gonna do without Mike?"

"I'm not sure, Eddy," Double D said. "Also, what could this mean for Lu and Og?"

"Forget about them!" Eddy glared. "We're more important to Mike than Lu and Og are!"

"Now, Eddy, don't be greedy..." Double D advised.

"Eddy's just bitter 'cuz he misses his red-haired angel," Ed said bluntly. "I know 'cuz he writes about it in his journal."

"I thought I told ya to shut up!" Eddy complained.

A mailman was soon coming and delivered mail to the Cartoon Network Hotel. The Eds soon took a walk before seeing him leaving the hotel and they decided to go to the hotel since Johnny Bravo worked there and he was also pretty close to Mike, especially around Father's Day.

* * *

"Hey, Johnny." The Eds greeted the blonde muscleman.

"Any luck in finding Mike?" Johnny asked. "Mama wants to have her over for dinner sometime."

"Sorry, Johnny, but still no trace of Mike," Double D sighed. "We were wondering if we could just hang around here 'cuz we miss Mike a lot."

"I guess you could do that," Johnny replied. "As long as Red Guy over there doesn't make a fuss."

"He'll have to answer to me if he does." Eddy glared, shaking his fist.

"Let's see... Bill... Bill... Bill... Bill..." The Red Guy said as he sat behind the front desk, sorting through the mail before calling out. "Hey, Bill! Your mail's here!"

"My name's Billy, but that's sweet!" Billy the idiot boy beamed as he rushed over and took the mail that was for him before he jumped through the window, crashing through it as he came outside with Mandy and Grim.

The Red Guy mumbled as he sorted through more of the mail before seeing a new letter. "Huh? What's this?" he then asked. "Looks like a letter from East Africa for the Eds..." he then said. " **HEY, ED BOYS!** " he then shouted.

"Guh!" Double D flinched from the shouting.

" **MAIL FOR YA!** " The Red Guy then told them as he tossed the envelope out at them.

"Gah! Paper cut!" Eddy complained before he took the envelope and gasped. "It's a letter... From Mike!"

"Mike?!" Double D and Ed seemed to beam as this sounded hopeful for them.

"What could she be doing in East Africa though?" Double D soon wondered.

"Who cares? At least we found a trace of her," Eddy said before opening the envelope to find a letter inside and decided to check it out. "This is Mike alright."

"Okay, what does the letter say then?" Double D asked.

"I hope it's a candy gram." Ed smiled hopefully.

Eddy soon read the letter aloud and it read as followed

**_Dear Ed, Edd, n Eddy,_ **

**_I figured you guys and maybe Lu and Og would be looking for me after I ran away from the sleepover last Friday night. I'm sorry, but I had to get going as I decided Cartoon Network City would be better off without me, even though you guys are the best friends I could ever ask for, especially after what happened to Max and Melissa. I hope you understand, but I'm not sure if I'll be coming back to the city and I might find a new home with the family called The Wild Thornberrys._ **

**_You might have heard of them, but probably not. I've gone to Kenya with them away from Nicktropolis to tour with them to see where it goes. I'll send for my things if there's anything else, but don't expect me back anytime soon._ **

**_See ya_ **

**_Yours truly, Mike Mazinsky_ **

"The Wild Thornberrys?!" The Eds looked at each other in shock as they wondered what this could possibly mean.


	2. Chapter 2

Yes, if one recalls the previous adventure with young Mike Mazinsky, she had left Pride Rock to go traveling with the family known as the Thornberrys. She was currently there and had met the family, as well as Debbie and her friend, Tuesday X, and their boyfriends: Josh Nichols and Drake Parker, who decided to come by for a vacation themselves. 

"Believe it or not, but this isn't my first time riding an elephant." Mike said to Eliza and Darwin as they went for a ride on one of Eliza's old animal friends which was, what else? An elephant.

"I can believe that from what you've told me about your adventures on your desert island," Eliza replied. "Next to having an Elephant Wash like a car wash."

"Yeah, but then Lu just had to get impatient." Mike then rolled her eyes.

"And now, Phaedra the Magnificent will walk the circle of destiny!" The elephant smiled before rearing up with a trumpet as the girls laughed, though Darwin was almost knocked off. 

"Circle of destiny, indeed," Darwin scoffed before he climbed back up. "Pee-yew! Eliza, your friend stinks! And look at those tusks! They can poke an eye out."

"Chillax, Darwin." Mike told the chimpanzee.

"Phaedra, can you take us around that tree?" Eliza soon asked.

"Sure!" Phaedra nodded.

"Show us how you do that when you travel with a herd." Mike then said.

"Of course, Mike," Phaedra replied. "Here's how our moms make us go. They nudge the back of our necks with their trunks." she then instructed. 

"Oh, like this?" Eliza asked before touching the elephant's neck.

"That's it," Phaedra nodded. "And if she wanted us to turn around, she just nudges on one side."

Mike then kicked Phaedra's right ear slightly and then the young elephant turned around. "Pretty cool." she then smiled. 

"Yes. Rub behind the ear and it turns fascinating, and the elephant turns," Darwin complained. "Girls, can we go now? My butt's gone to sleep."

"Okay, Darwin," Eliza replied before they got off of the elephant's back. "Come on, Mike."

"Aw, sure, ruin my fun." Mike complained.

"Bye, guys." Phaedra said to the two girls. 

"Bye, Phaedra." Mike and Eliza replied.

Darwin soon slipped and fell on the ground. 

"Bye, Chimp." Phaedra then told Darwin as she let them get going.

"Oh, think I hear your grandmumsy opening a fresh tin of figgy pudding." Darwin said to Eliza eagerly.

"And I thought that was only avaliable during Christmas." Mike commented.

"Shh! Guys, listen." Eliza said as she stopped them.

"To what?" Darwin asked. "I don't hear anything."

Mike took a listen, hoping to hear something as she was part wolf after all. "I'm not sure I hear anything either." she then said.

"That's what I mean," Eliza told them. "It's too quiet."

Mike and Darwin shared a look before they went to keep going with Eliza.

* * *

**_Meanwhile..._ **

"It's a shame you couldn't spend more time with us, Mumsy." Nigel said to his mother who came by to visit the family. 

"Oh, two weeks is more than enough," Cordelia told her son. "You know your father gets a bit daft when left on his own too long. For all we know, he's searched the entire estate for his reading glasses." she then reminded. 

"Good thing I take after you, eh, Mumsy?" Nigel replied. "Marianne? Have you had any luck locating my binoculars?"

"Try around your neck." Marianne suggested.

"Drake and Joshua, I hope you don't become lazy like Deborah." Cordelia warned the two teenage boys. 

"Grandparents..." Drake rolled his eyes with a smirk.

"Yeah... Though I just miss Grammy," Josh replied. "I hope she comes back to visit sometime soon."

"At least your grandma's cool," Debbie rolled her eyes as she got a teapot, though there wasn't room for tea. "My grandma doesn't seem to do anything but complain."

"Yeah, but I think Grammy just likes Josh better than me when she came to meet me and Megan." Drake scoffed.

"Aw, Drake, don't say that; Grammy loves everybody." Josh replied to his step-brother.

"Guys, this might be weird, but I feel like something's coming." Tuesday said as her eyes darted back and forth.

"You're just saying that 'cuz your mom's crazy with your, uh, special training." Drake smirked at his girlfriend.

"No, I mean, I feel something big coming," Tuesday replied. "Besides, we're in a jungle, so it's not too crazy to think about."

Drake just shrugged at that as he continued to play his guitar with no worries. 

"I guess Tues might have a point." Debbie replied.

The teenagers soon came outside as Drake, Josh, and Tuesday grimaced at what Debbie had discovered.

"Bad news," Debbie told her family. "Jungle Boy used the teapot to store his grubworms."

Donnie then showed them the worms as Cordelia spit out her tea.

"Mom! Dad!" Eliza called out as she ran over with her friends in a panic. "Stampede!"

Soon enough, they saw something coming which proved the green-haired girl right.

"What did I tell you guys?!" Tuesday yelped as she saw that. "It's a gazelle stampede!"

"Battle stations, everyone!" Marianne warned.

"Aw, man!" Drake complained as he went to get ready with Josh.

"Mumsy, stand absolutely still," Nigel advised his worrying mother. "They're not carnivores. In fact, the gazelle is actually quite harmless unless you happen to be a tuft of grass."

"Where'd those gazelles come from?!" Josh cried out. "They're hysterical! HYSTERICAL!" he then said before repeating the last word for emphasis.

* * *

Meanwhile, Eliza, Mike, and Darwin took a walk together in The Savannah which brought memories back to Mike from when Mufasa showed her and Simba around The Pridelands. There, they met a group of cheetah cubs who came to see them and appeared to be friendly which made Mike smile as she never saw a cheetah up close, so this was a very nice experience.

"It's Akela!" Eliza then smiled at the mother cheetah.

"Another friend of yours?" Mike guessed.

"Yes, I met her a very long time ago when we last came to Narobi." Eliza explained.

"Well, Akela, it's nice to meet you." Mike said to the mother cheetah.

"Ah, you can talk to us as well?" Akela asked the young tomboy.

"Yeah, though for a different reason of course," Mike said. "It's a long story."

"Well, it's good to meet you," Akela replied. "Though... There's something different about you than most humans... I can sense it within you."

Mike just looked nervous in response.

"Mom!" One cub piped out as he came to his mother. "Eliza and her friends want us to race!" 

"No," Akela disallowed. "The Plains are too dangerous for little ones." 

"But Akela, Mike and I'll be with them. You can trust us."

"A race with a cheetah cub sounds cool." Mike had to admit. 

"Please, Mom," The cub pleaded. "Pleeeease?" 

"We'll keep an eye on your cubs, I promise." Mike smiled innocently.

Akela soon sighed in defeat as she decided to allow it this one time. "All right, girls, but keep an eye on them and don't go beyond the acacia tree." she then warned. 

"Yes!" Mike beamed. "We won't let you down, ma'am."

Akela gave a small smile in response to that.

"So, what do they call you guys?" Mike asked the cheetah cub.

"My name is Tally," The male cheetah cub spoke up. "And these are my sisters: Duma and Fuli."

"Good to meet you guys," Mike said to the cheetah cubs. "So are we ready?"

"Yeah!" The cheetah cubs beamed.

"Are we set?" Mike then asked.

"Yeah!" The cheetah cubs nodded again.

"GO!" Mike then smirked as she ran ahead of them and Eliza.

"Hey! No cheating, Mike!" Eliza called out with a laugh.

The cheetah cubs soon ran after them to go into The Plains.

"Hey, Slowpokes! We're winning!" Eliza teased the cheetah cubs.

"Hey! Who're you callin' slowpokes?!" Duma replied.

The girls and cheetah cubs laughed as they had all sorts of fun before they all fell in the grass. However, their fun ended prematurely as they all suddenly heard a gunshot.

* * *

"Poachers!" Nigel gasped as he saw something that the others didn't see right away.

"Those are bad, right?" Drake guessed.

"Yes, Drake," Tuesday rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. "They hunt down and kill animals for their own selfish gain. One of the worst is Percival C. McLeach in Australia." she then explained.

"And how do you know that?" Josh asked.

"Well, uh... I've heard about him when my family, uh, vacationed into Australia once." Tuesday replied, though that seemed to be a bit of a lie.

Eliza and Mike soon saw a helicopter nearby and began to panic. "RUUUUN!" They then cried out.

The two girls soon ran for it with the cheetah cubs going on after them. Tally soon tried to get out of sight, but the light soon shined on him as someone reached out to grab the male cheetah cub in an instant. 

"ELIZA!" Tally cried out.

"Oh, no!" Eliza gasped for her cheetah friend.

"Eliza!" Mike panicked. "Ooh, I wanna help, but I'm not sure what to do."

"Give him back!" Eliza cried out. "He's just a baby!"

"Aaaugh! My baby!" Marianne panicked.

The poacher soon brought out a knife and used it to cut on the rope ladder to make Eliza fall so that they could keep Tally for themselves, whoever they were. Mike soon looked around before running instantly and soon tried to catch Eliza, but both girls hit the ground instantly as Eliza fell on top of Mike. At least it was a softer landing than just hitting the ground. Mike and Eliza both looked on with horror as the helicopter soon flew away as the poacher had successfully snatched Tally. 

"MY BABY!" Akela soon cried out which made the situation even worse as the girls had failed the mother cheetah.

Duma and Fuli both looked very sad as their brother was gone.

"Akela was right," Mike sighed to herself. "We should've stayed away from The Plains and the acacia tree... Now she'll never trust us again."

* * *

Later that night, Eliza's parents and grandparents began to take care of the girls after the incident.

"We can't just sit here!" Eliza cried out. "Mom, we have to find those poachers!" 

"Eliza, you were almost killed," Marianne scolded. "You have to let Jomo take care of them." 

"But Mrs. Thornberry, we have to save Tally!" Mike spoke up. 

"Who?" Marianne asked. 

"That's what we called the cheetah cub." Eliza said softly. 

"She names man-eating wild animals?" Cordelia asked out of concern for her granddaughter. 

"Names 'em, plays with 'em, talks in 'Monkey' to 'em," Debbie shrugged. "I guess it rubbed off on that pigtailed kid." 

"Debbie, enough." Marianne tutted. 

"No offense, Debbie, but you're not helping." Josh told his girlfriend.

"Who said I had to help?" Debbie replied as she looked through a magazine.

"Here, guys," Josh said to Mike and Eliza. "I made you guys some hot chocolate."

"Thanks, Josh." Mike and Eliza replied as they took the cups and began to drink from them. 

"It's my own recipe, I hope ya like it." Josh nodded.

"Eliza. I don’t want you and your friend going out in The Savanna at night." Marianne then told her younger daughter. 

"Yeah, right," Debbie scoffed. "She and the monkey are always sneaking off."

"WHAT?!" Cordelia asked. 

"Debbie!" Eliza cried out. 

"Hey! Now I covered long enough!" Debbie defended as she had a lot to get off her chest. "Do you know that she once fed one of my protein bars to a Komodo Dragon and back in wherever land that was, she rode a Siberian tiger? Oh, oh, and ask her about the time that she was dancing with a bunch of crazy dingoes?"

The adults gasped in fear.

"Gosh, she gets around more than Megan." Drake said to Tuesday.

"Or me and my family." Tuesday murmured. 

"What?" Marianne asked in surprise. 

"Oh, that was not even the half of it, Mom." Debbie then said. 

"Eliza!" Nigel said in concern. 

"Thanks a lot, Deb." Eliza huffed at her older sister.

"Nigel, I don’t know what to do." Marianne frowned.

"Guys, don't you think you're being a little too hard on Eliza?" Mike spoke up. "I mean, all she did was try to help a cheetah cub who was in trouble. What was she supposed to do, let him go only to get killed by that slimy, slobbering, stupid poacher?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that, but she went too far." Nigel replied.

"Mike, I don't want to get you in trouble, but you've endangered our daughter's life." Marianne said sharply. 

"At least I did something while you did nothing!" Mike glared as Drake, Josh, and Tuesday looked at each other and decided to step away from this. "I saved your daughter's life and this is how you thank me? I can't believe this! I don't think families are supposed to do this!"

"Well, we host an animal nature show," Nigel reminded. "We can't exactly be there for our daughters all of the time."

"You're terrible parents then!" Mike snapped as her eyes nearly glowed red.

"It doesn't matter," Marianne said softly. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we've let Eliza be with those animal friends of hers long enough and you too as long as you're staying with us for a visit, Michelene."

"Do _not_ call me that!" Mike snapped.

"I'm afraid my daughter-in-law is right," Cordelia said to the young tomboy. "You could very well endanger my family and that attitude of yours is going to have to stop. How could your parents ever raise you to behave this way?"

Mike looked sharp and soft at the mention of her parents. She wanted to yell out "Well, I'm an orphan for your information!", but she decided not to that time. 

"But Grandmumsy, Mike was just trying to help me," Eliza spoke up. "She wasn't going to hurt me. Honest."

"I'm sorry, Eliza, but this is for your own safety." Cordelia told her granddaughter. 

"Wait! When did I agree to be sent to boarding school?!" Mike glared.

"That might be best for you and your unruly behavior, child," Cordelia told the young tomboy. "Perhaps you could learn to treat elders and other parents with respect since you clearly show none for those around you and act like a wild animal yourself." 

"Oh... Nigel... I don't know what to do..." Marianne said emotionally.

"Well, I do," Cordelia soon said. "It is perfectly obvious that Elizabeth and Michelene have no regard for their own safety and that of others around her now. We have discussed this for years about Eliza. She and her new friend need to be in a structured environment, one such as a boarding school back in London."

"Whoa, wait! When did I ever agree to go to boarding school?!" Mike complained. "It's bad enough that I had to go to St. Albans with all those strict rules and threats before I became an exchange student!"

"Oh, hold on," Debbie interrupted and stormed over. "She messes up and she gets to go to a boarding school?"

"Oh, Mumsy, that's rather drastic..." Nigel said to his mother.

"Nigel, need I remind you that it was in the confines of boarding school that you received your education, not here in the wild?" Cordelia remarked. "Surely you don't think it's civilized for a girl to play with cheetahs and chimpanzees? Though I can't speak for Michelene's parents as I can't contact them. 

Debbie got onto a table and started to act like a monkey so she could go to boarding school as well. "What about me?" she asked her grandmother desperately. "Do I look civilized?"

Drake, Josh, and Tuesday simply sweat-dropped at the blonde girl's behavior which was a bit desperate.

"Frankly no, but for you, I'm afraid it's rather too late." Cordelia said, blankly.

Debbie groaned in defeat as her grandmother went back inside the Comvee before her friends followed behind. 

"Mom, Dad, I can't leave," Eliza said to her parents sadly. "Tally never would've been out on the Plains if it wasn't for me... It's all my fault."

"Eliza, how could it be your fault?" Marianne asked, not understanding.

"...We didn't expect YOU to understand." Mike said with a sharp glare.

"Mr. Thornberry and I make our rules for a reason," Marianne told the young tomboy. "If we have to send you away to be safe, we will."

"Great, Mike, you just got kicked out of another family," Mike grumbled to herself. "Why did it have to get from bad to worse?"

"Dad..." Eliza looked sadly to her father, he was her last hope. "Please..."

Nigel looked sadly to her, he wanted to help her, but he couldn't. " Poppet, your intentions are noble, but you're just too young... Your friend is too and they could get hurt..." he said in the most gentle voice he could. He then gave her a firm and gentle hug. "I'm sorry."

* * *

Later that night, Mike, Eliza, and Darwin slept outside in a tent as they thought long and hard about what had happened earlier that night.

"Boarding School?" Darwin nearly scoffed. "I never heard of anything so ridiculous!"

"I guess it could be worse than St. Albans or the Island School before we got a teacher to settle everybody down, especially the Cuzzlewitz twins." Mike grumbled to herself.

"Sometimes I wish I could just tell them I can talk to animals." Eliza sulked. 

"No, then you will lose your power." Darwin reminded.

"It's still pretty crazy how that warthog you saved ended up being an African Shaman," Mike remarked. "I guess he really trusted you."

"Yeah, he saw goodness in my heart after all." Eliza agreed.

"Good," Darwin could relax now. "Now about this 'Boarding School'... You dont' think they'll make me take Gym Class, do you? Because those tight shorts show off my problem area."

Mike and Eliza shared a look on that.

"Actually, Darwin, here's the thing," Mike soon said. "This isn't Charles Darwin Middle School."

"And what does that mean?" Darwin asked.

"That's an all-animal school... And... Well..." Mike tried to explain without hurting the chimp's feelings.

"You can't come with us." Eliza soon said.

Darwin's eyes widened and he threw a big fuss over being separated from Eliza since she was the only one in this family he could talk to.

"Darwin, come back!" Eliza called sadly.

"Whatever is the matter with Darwin?" Nigel frowned as he soon came out of the Comvee to see his daughter. 

"He saw Eliza pack her suitcase," Mike covered up. "I guess he figured out she's leaving."

"Very intuitive that chimp." Nigel remarked.

"...Mr. Thornberry, I'm sorry we had that fight, but... It hurt me a little with what you and your family had to say." Mike soon said.

"I'm sorry too, Mike," Nigel replied. "You make some good points, but I'm afraid that's just the way things are sometimes."

"Yeah... I guess..." Mike shrugged.

"I'm so sorry about this, Dad." Eliza then said.

"Well, as a matter of fact, I went up against poachers myself once to save an elephant," Nigel added in. "Remember?" he then smiled to Eliza.

"I remember." Eliza smiled back and hugged him.

"Whoa. Hardcore." Mike commented.

"Quite," Nigel nodded. "Come, I want to show you girls something."

"Me too?" Mike asked.

"Yes, you too." Nigel allowed.

* * *

Mike and Eliza soon followed after Nigel to see what he wanted to show them.

"It's our next location," Nigel informed. "We're going to Congo."

"To look for forest elephants?" Eliza assumed.

"Yes, if we can find any," Nigel replied before explaining with his computer. "You see, there's an old Bakaa legend that tells of a solar eclipse when thousands of elephants made their way to Timbo Valley."

"Hmm... I wonder why?" Mike replied. 

"Nobody knows," Nigel said before closing his computer. "But there's an eclipse in a few weeks in this exact spot, and I intend to witness it firsthand."

Eliza frowned at that. "...I wish I could see it with you, Dad."

Mike nodded as that sounded very nice.

"Girls," Nigel reached into his robe pocket and showed them an award given to him. "I received this medal when I was in Boarding School about your age. Perhaps you would like to take it..." he put the chain around his daughter's neck. "For luck."

Eliza read the medal. "'Awarded for Bravery'?"

"Way cool." Mike had to admit. 

"Everybody has challenges of their own," Nigel said comfortingly. "And I predict you girls will meet them splendidly."

"Thanks, Mr. Thornberry," Mike said softly. "That sounds like really great advice from a father figure like you."

"Oh, I'm sure your father would tell you the same." Nigel replied.

"Yeah... Maybe..." Mike shrugged.

It was a very long night, but Eliza began to feel a little bit better before going to sleep with Mike as it was late enough as it was. Mike sighed about going to boarding school against her will, but maybe it was for the best so that she could help our her new friend. 


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Mike and Eliza were getting ready to leave after a very long night as today was the big day for them.

"I looked everywhere for Darwin," Eliza said glumly. "I didn't get to say goodbye."

"I'm sorry, honey," Marianne coaxed to her younger daughter. "You'll see him again soon. I love you."

"I'll miss you, Mom," Eliza said softly. "You won't leave without him, will you, Dad?" 

"Of course not, Poppet." Nigel promised. 

Josh looked like he was about to cry.

"Dude, are you crying?" Drake asked.

"So what if I am?" Josh replied. "This is a very sad moment."

"You watch _waaay_ too much Oprah." Drake rolled his eyes.

"Drake, don't start." Tuesday scolded her boyfriend. 

Mike sighed softly as all she could do was watch as Eliza said goodbye to her family and she was more or less simply left out. Especially due to her own family circumstances. 

"Okay, here's what I need for you to get me in London: CD's, boots, T-shirts. Basically anything cool." Debbie told her sister as she came for one last goodbye.

Eliza looked emotional, despite their various differences and usual bickering, she soon hugged her sister good and tight.

Debbie looked touched from the hug and soon decided to hug her younger sister back. "Don't forget. Cool." she then reminded. 

"Thanks for that, Debbie." Mike replied.

"Hey, I'm not heartless," Debbie said. "Just remember you try to help Eliza find those cool stuff for me."

"Whatever you say." Mike shrugged at that.

"Elizabeth, Michelene, it's time for take-off!" Cordelia soon called out. "Kiss your natural wilderness girlhood goodbye!"

"Okay, okay, we're coming, we're coming," Mike replied sharply. "And the name is MIKE!"

The two soon came onto the plane as they moved their stuff along. Once they were securely inside, Nigel closed the door behind them. It was going to be a very long flight, both literally and emotionally.

"Bye, Dad." Eliza said softly as they took off.

Mike smiled sadly as she looked happy that Eliza got to have a wonderful bond with her father. After all, there was no bond like a father and his daughter. That just seemed to be a feeling that she would never understand.

* * *

Later in England, a limo arrived at a model charmed building known as Lady Beatrice's school as Eliza and Mike moved their suitcases and wore their new school uniforms. Mike found the uniforms to be very embarrassing, but she guessed it could be worse like her school's uniform before she transferred to the Albonquetine Islands. Eliza moved her suitcase around as the other girls seemed to be talking about her and it got worse as her suitcase got stuck in a hole and tried to pull it out, only for Eliza to fall to the ground and the girls laughed at her misfortune. Mike glared sharply at their laughter, but none of the girls really felt scared of her gaze.

"Here, let me help you," Mike said as she helped her Nicktoon friend back up to her feet. "I guess this is where we say goodbye for right now."

"Yeah, I guess so," Eliza said softly. "Good luck with your new roommate."

"Yeah, you too," Mike replied. "I'm mostly concerned about her name... Claire Nefarius. I mean, doesn't exactly sound like a friendly girl who wants to brush your hair and talk about rainbows or whatever girly girls do."

* * *

The two went into the dormitory to get settled in. Mike soon moved her stuff inside and sat on the occupied bed before seeing that she wasn't alone.

"You must be one of the new girls." The other girl said as she had light orange hair that past her shoulders and had bright green eyes.

"Um, yeah," Mike replied. "Call me Mike. Mike Mazinsky."

"Mike?" The girl smirked. "I'm sorry, but this is a school for girls, you'll have to leave."

"Ha, ha, ha," Mike rolled her eyes sarcastically. "You better watch yourself, girl. You don't know what I can do."

"I'm sure you've said that to other people before," The girl said with a yawn. "You don't know what _I_ can do, especially my father."

"What does your father do then?" Mike asked.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," The girl smirked. "And my name is Claire Nefarius. You better not mess with me if you know what's good for you."

"The feeling's mutual, sweetheart." Mike huffed as she got her bags taken out and got ready to officially move into her new life.

Claire nodded sharply as she went to her side of the room and sat at the vanity table in the room and began to brush her hair. Mike grumbled to herself as she got settled and sighed as she looked out the window. She was very sure she wasn't going to fit in here, a prim and proper boarding school like this with an outsider like her. Sometimes she felt like she couldn't belong anywhere. After Mike got her stuff out and checked the time, she shrugged at herself and decided to do something constructive by checking on the only friend she had in this place. 

"Where are you going?" Claire asked Mike.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm going out to see the only friend I'll probably have in this dump," Mike rolled her eyes. "Her name's Eliza Thornberry if you must know."

"Eliza Thornberry?" Claire repeated. "Isn't that the girl whose dad has a nature show?"

"Yes, she is," Mike nodded. "I'm gonna go find her and don't try to stop me or get in my way, Miss Busybody." she then said before slamming the door behind her, making Claire wince.

"Hmph! You didn't have to be rude." Claire firmly pouted.

* * *

It took a while as Mike went to find Eliza's new room and finally found it once she heard the girl's voice on the other side of the door.

"Hey, Mike." Eliza said.

"Hey, Eliza," Mike replied. "I can see you have a new roommate too."

"Yeah, I wish they could've roomed us together," Eliza sighed sharply. "I don't understand why they couldn't."

"Well, you're a lot better than Claire." Mike remarked.

"Claire?" Eliza asked.

"That's _my_ roommate," Mike replied. "I've only known her for two seconds and I already wanna throw her out the window into a river filled with crocodiles."

Eliza laughed a little at that as she sat on her bed. However, suddenly, her bag began to wiggle and move which perplexed both girls before they opened up to see what was the cause of that.

"Darwin?!" The girls gasped once they saw the chimp. 

"Well, you didn't think I'd let you get civilized without me, would you?" Darwin smiled innocently.

Eliza and Darwin shared a quick reunion hug before the girl gasped and shut the room door. 

"You can't be here!"

"Yes, it's a miracle I survived the baggage hold," Darwin remarked. "You should know, your bags are not handled with care."

"Darwin, Eliza means you can't be here," Mike clarified. "They don't allow chimps in school! ...Except for Charles Darwin Middle School," she then told him. "The other girls will probably freak out and call Animal Control or something!"

"Oh, they'll change their mind when they meet me. Oh, now let's take a look at my new home," Darwin smiled as he decided to explore the bedroom. "Small, yet charming. Not much in the way of natural light but haven't we really had enough of nature? Dibs on this bed!" he then beamed as he bounced on the opposite bed that Eliza put her stuff on. "Ooh! Feel those springs; firm, yet flexible!"

"We gotta get him out of here before someone sees him." Mike said to Eliza in a panic. 

"Would you lend me your cashmere sweater for the dance?" A girl's voice asked on the other side of the door. 

They then heard someone trying to come in through the door.

"Too late." Mike then grew wide-eyed and panicked as she leaned on the door to try to keep it shut.

"Darwin, no! You can't be here!" Eliza panicked as she took the chimp's hand and tried to move him out of the room, though his face hit the window. 

"But why?" Darwin pouted.

"Someone's coming right now!" Mike warned.

"Ooh! Room service?" Darwin smiled hopefully. "Oh, I like this school already."

"No!" Mike face-palmed.

Eliza soon tried to put Darwin under the bed, but it was no good. "I can see your feet!" she then panicked. 

"LET ME IN!" A voice on the other side of the door demanded as she tried to come in as Mike tried to shut the person outside the door out.

"Or are you still quibbling about that 2% difference in our DNA?" Darwin complained. 

"The closet, Eliza!" Mike suggested. "Try the closet!"

Eliza nodded at Mike before putting Darwin there and closed the doors. "Just be quiet until I figure out what to do!" she then said before Mike stepped away from the door.

The two girls then tried to stand up straight and innocent as the door soon came open as a girl with dark blonde hair with her own school uniform stepped inside. 

"Yowza," Mike whispered to herself. "And I thought that Timmy Turner kid had massive chompers." 

"I'm Eliza Thornberry," Eliza smiled bashfully as she held out her hand to the girl who came into the room. "Guess we're roommates."

"So it appears," The girl said, ignoring the handshake. "I'm Sarah Wellington." 

"Of course," Mike rolled her eyes. "Your name just had to be 'Sarah'."

"Have we met?" Sarah asked coldly as she looked at the tomboy. "Why are you in this room?"

"I'm Mike Mazinsky and I'm trying to help my friend get comfortable and happy which I doubt you will." Mike glowered.

"Well, I never!" Sarah glared firmly.

"You should," Mike smirked. "It's a lot of fun."

"Hmph..." Sarah rolled her eyes as she came over to her bed. "Have you been romping on my bed?"

"Oh, just trying out the springs," Eliza smiled nervously as she sat on the bed with a small bounce. "Firm, yet flexible."

"Perhaps we should take this opportunity to negotiate a few issues," Sarah replied sharply. "You stay on your side, and I stay on mine. My things shall be off-limits as they are antique and rather expensive. This perfume is French, and don't even _dream_ about wearing my clothes, no matter how tempting the urge," she then said before she looked at the closet as it seemed a bit messier than she remembered. "I see that you've already rooted through my wardrobe."

Mike felt very annoyed with Sarah already and wanted to do something to her. 

"Sarah!" Eliza grinned nervously and soon rushed over to keep her roommate from going into the closet as she brought out a silver tin. "Want one of my mom's homemade peanut butter cookies?" she then offered bashfully. 

That seemed to interest and distract Sarah. "I might have a use for you yet." she then smirked as she accepted the tin and popped open the top before frowning firmly as she looked inside of it, only to find that it was empty.

Darwin let out a nervous burp from inside the closet as Mike and Eliza both groaned and sighed. 

"Must've had a bad case of the munchies." Mike said bashfully.

* * *

The rest of the time didn't get much better after that. Claire and Sarah were very good friends, especially with other girls in the school while Mike and Eliza just seemed to be the misfits. At least they both had animals to talk to, though a lot of the other girls thought they were just plain weird, though Mike was more or less used to this kind of treatment since she was always a bit of an outsider back home in Cartoon Network City.

Sure, she had a few friends here and there, but sometimes she just wished she could've fit in. She also had a couple of very good friends who more or less abandoned her. Maximilian "Max" Carter and Melissa Kingsleigh. Max was a bit of a troublemaker and prankster in school, especially in Sister Ignatius's Science Class which earned him a lot of detention, more than he would probably like. Melissa was usually a sophisticated and proper girl, but she still had a fun side to her. In fact, she was born into a rich family, but she was still a good friend to anyone and invited all the girls to her slumber parties, no matter if they were cool or geeks.

That changed when Mike became a foreign exchange student though. Mike was signed up and ready to visit The Albonquetine Island for a remainder of her sixth-grade career as a school student as she would leave her home island of Manhattan and go to a little island in the middle of nowhere. There, she, of course, met Lu and Og who were the best friends she could have ever asked for, next to make Ed, Edd, and Eddy who were like her brothers on good days. Mike understood Eliza's struggles and did whatever she could to help.

* * *

One rainy day before dinner was hopefully going to be a ray of sunshine as the Thornberry parents called for their younger daughter.

"Eliza, can you hear me?" Marianne asked as she and Nigel tried to keep in touch with their daughter. "It's Mom!"

"And your dear old dad!" Nigel added. 

"Uh, what did you say, honey?" Marianne soon asked.

"I said HAS. JOMO. FOUND. TALLY?!" Eliza enunciated urgently and loudly so that her mother could hear her. 

"Sorry, Poppet, no, and, in fact, the poachers disappeared without a trace." Nigel replied apologetically.

"Great." Mike sulked as she sat on Sarah's bed and flopped on her back while Eliza was on the phone. 

"Nigel, tell her about Darwin." Marianne whispered to her husband.

"Hey!" Tuesday called out as she chased Donnie who took her cell phone away from her. 

Donnie babbled and laughed as he ran away.

"Yes, I was leading up to that," Nigel told his wife as he went back on the phone with his younger daughter. "Poodles, I'm afraid we've lost track of Darwin."

"Oh, he'll be all right," Eliza smiled nervously as Darwin was sitting on the bed in a robe and eating some sort of dessert, looking like he was visiting a spa resort rather than a boarding school. "He's probably foraging for his bugs and berries right now."

"How's the pie?" Mike rolled her eyes at the chimp.

"Oh, the shepherd's pie is heavenly, but why do they have to put these smushy green things in it?" Darwin replied with a small pout. "They look like bunny poop."

"Honey, is someone there?" Marianne asked on the other end. 

"Oh, th-that's just my roommate, Sarah," Eliza covered up. "Mom, please don't forget about Tally, okay?"

"We won't. We left word with Jomo where we were headed," Marianne promised. "Now, try to have fun with your new friends, okay?"

"SHE'S MAKING FRIENDS?!" Debbie complained as she threw down her CD headphones and stormed towards her parents to take over the phone call. "Give me that. Hi, okay. Here's what's going on with my life," she then said as she went around in a circle, beginning to tie her parents up with the wire. "Donnie's now half-goat, my hair is half-terrier and we are heading into the abyss where there is no hope of teen interaction except for Tuesday. Goodbye!" she then said as she hung up and now her parents were tied up together. 

"Oh, uh, Debbie!" Marianne cried out.

* * *

"Debbie?" Eliza frowned as she tried to get an answer. "Mom, Dad? Donnie?" she then pouted as there was no answer.

"Eliza, I'm sorry." Mike frowned as it sounded like the Thornberry family was out of range right now.

"It's okay," Eliza sighed. "I just can't bear to imagine what Tally's going through right now."

"I just hope he's waiting for us and counting on us to help him," Mike added. "I wish there was something we could do. Too bad no one here really understands."

Eliza frowned emotionally and soon suddenly hugged Mike as she felt so sad and lost. Mike frowned back a bit before hugging Eliza right back and doing her best to stay strong for her friend while Darwin pampered himself. 

"Let's get some dinner," Mike said to Eliza. "Hopefully there's something good."

"I hope so too." Eliza agreed.

"I hope it's hot dogs." Mike then smiled about her favorite food.

* * *

They soon came downstairs to the cafeteria and collected their dinner for the evening. A lot of the other girls had their own cliques and friends, but the two of them were on their own and alone. At least they had each other though.

"We're all a bit curious," A blonde girl smirked as she stood with a dark-haired girl as they carried their trays. "Have you ever seen a tiger up close?"

The two soon laughed and walked off together.

"Close enough to pet." Eliza replied innocently.

"Oh, really?" The dark-haired girl asked out of interest.

"Tell them more, Eliza." Mike smiled hopefully as it looked like these girls were starting to warm up to Eliza. 

"Tigers, bears, Komodo Dragons," Eliza told the other girls. "Once, when we were in the Arctic, I hung out with this polar bear."

* * *

Claire and Sarah were soon in the cafeteria line next.

"So then, I said to her--" Claire began only for Sarah to make her stop talking. 

"Hmph... Seems our roommates are making friends..." Sarah glared at the sight. 

" _Our_ friends!" Claire added firmly.

* * *

"Th-They're really gentle, and..." Eliza continued to tell the girls while Mike smiled at this. 

"Sarah, Eliza swam with the whales." The dark-haired girl said once Sarah and Claire came to sit at the table as well.

"Isn't that lovely?" Sarah remarked softly and sarcastically. 

"How about you, Mike?" The blonde girl asked the tomboy. "Have you done anything interesting like Eliza?"

"Well, recently, I actually met this family of lions up close to their home which they called 'Pride Rock'..." Mike began to tell them.

Darwin was soon shown to be getting dinner as well. He was in a boarding school girl uniform of his own and tried to blend in as he got his food and went to sit next to Eliza and Mike and even wore make-up on his face.

"Darwin?!" Mike and Eliza whispered nervously.

"I know, don't I look fetching?~" Darwin grinned.

"Uh... You look like somethin' alright." Mike replied.

Eliza and Mike could then see that the other girls were listening in eagerly, hoping to hear more about Eliza's stories in the wild with her parents and traveling all over the world. 

"Uh... Wh-Wh-Where was I?" Eliza smiled nervously to her possible new friends. "Oh, yes. Swimming with dingoes... I mean, dolphins... Uh... But enough about me," she then said as she tried to hide Darwin from the other girls. "Did anyone try the boiled cabbage Oh, I can't get enough boiled cabbage. I'm going back for seconds. Anyone else?"

"Ulp... I'll go..." Mike gulped nervously and wearily about going to help try to back up Eliza, but it seemed to be a failure as the other girls noticed Darwin, but they didn't seem to notice that he wasn't human. 

"Who's that girl?" The dark-haired girl asked as she noticed Darwin. 

"I've never seen her before," The blonde girl added. "When did she come to Lady Beatrice's?"

"Is she Eliza and Mike's friend?" The dark-haired girl then asked.

Darwin soon reached for some more food, but something was noticed on his uniform that got Sarah's attention.

"Sarah, I believe you should see this," Claire spoke up before glaring at the dark-haired girl and blonde girl. "And Jane and Victoria, you should know better than to be friends with these ruffians."

"Ruffians?!" Mike glared. "Look, girl--" 

"That's my monogram!" Sarah sneered at Darwin before he soon grabbed a hold of him, seeing a 'SW' patch on his sleeve. "Who are you, and why are you wearing my new blazer?!"

Darwin looked nervous as his hat fell on the table and his face was shown to the snobby girl.

"It's a monkey!" Claire gasped.

"Actually, Darwin's a chimp," Mike retorted. "Monkeys have tails." 

"There's an ape in my uniform!" Sarah cried out as she tried to take her blazer away from the primate. "Ugh! Give it back! Give it back"

"Did he escape from the zoo?!" The blonde girl named Jane gasped as Darwin fell against the basket that was filled with rolls. 

Darwin soon grabbed a roll and decided to throw it at Sarah and threw another one at Claire. 

"Darwin, no!" Eliza gasped, but it was too late.

Sarah then grabbed a salad plate and threw it at Darwin, but she missed and the plate hit one of the other school girls. 

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Mike said to herself.

"Food fight, everyone!" The dark-haired girl known as Victoria beamed in excitement as the plate hit her face and so, a food fight started, much to the chagrin as the headmistress: Mrs. Fairgood. 

All of the girls soon got out of their seats and began to throw food at each other and they all looked like they had the most fun they ever had since they came to this school. 

"Melissa, don't you know a girl named Mike Mazinsky?" A black-haired girl asked another girl with auburn hair with a purple headband on her head.

"...Yes, I believe I do... Somewhere... But maybe it's just a coincidence." The auburn girl shrugged as the food fight continued.

"Girls! Girls!" Mrs. Fairgood called out as she tried to calm the students down. "Food is for eating! Food is for--" she was then cut off as her face was covered in food next. 

Sarah soon went to chase after Darwin, but she then slipped on a tray and slid down a table as the girls covered her with food and the final girl even put an apple in her mouth. Eliza and Mike watched in horror as Darwin came across the "Mind Thy Manners" banner and soon ripped it as the food fight continued. 

"This can only end so well." Mike said nervously as she saw that Ms. Fairgood looked very angered with what happened in the cafeteria. 

"This is the best meal we've ever had!" Victoria smiled.

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it." Mike said to her.

Eventually, the food fight came to a stop.

"Girls, I am so angered, disgusted, and appalled with all of you," Mrs. Fairgood said sharply as she used a towel to wipe her face off. "I'm going to escort Miss Thornberry outside to the stables to take care of her, erm... Pet who's broken many rules of our school. You are all to clean up this mess this instant and report to your rooms to the showers and to go straight to bed."

"Aww..." The girls groaned and pouted.

"I'll clean somethin' of yours, lady." Mike growled quietly to herself, though luckily, she didn't Wolf Out that time.

* * *

Eventually, the girls all cleaned up while Eliza went outside to say good night to Darwin for the night and her grandmother would be called first thing tomorrow morning. The girls got themselves ready for bed while Claire and Sarah seemed to be gone and Mike sat alone in her room before there was a knock at the door.

"Uh, yeah? Come in." Mike replied to the knock as she got in her pink and white nightgown.

Jane and Victoria soon came into the room and saw that Mike was alone.

"Oh... It's you two..." Mike said. "...Whatever your names are. I'm sorry, I don't remember."

"That's all right," The dark-haired girl replied. "My name is Victoria Bagshaw."

"And I'm Jane Quarrington." The blonde girl added.

"Victoria and Jane... Good to know," Mike replied. "My name's Mike Mazinsky."

"Mike?" Victoria asked. "No offense, but that's an unusual name for a girl."

"Yes, I know, but it's a long story," Mike replied. "Anyway, what's up?"

"Well, we were just wondering if you'd like to come see Eliza with us," Jane explained. "We thought we'd come see her after Mrs. Fairgood took care of her monkey friend."

"Hmm... Yeah, I suppose I could do that," Mike shrugged. "Beats sitting around here in the quiet rain."

Jane and Victoria smiled before they soon left the room with Mike to go and visit Eliza. They soon saw Eliza and she seemed to be alone in her room as many other school girls came into the room to visit the girl and ask what happened to Darwin.

* * *

"Did Mrs. Fairgood make him go to the zoo?"

"Where did he sleep?"

"Oh, Eliza, tell us everything!"

"However did you smuggle the chimp in your suitcase?"

"Well, Darwin decided to--" Eliza was about to tell the truth until she remembered something very important. "Oh, uh, I mean it was easy. From hiding him from Sarah... That's a different story." she then told the other girls. 

"Ooh! Miss Sarah Wellington thinks she's the bee's knees," Jane smirked. "Not to mention she has Claire Nefarius on her side."

"Why would you ever come here where it's so boring?" Victoria asked. "Also, Mike, you seem interesting too."

"Thanks, Victoria." Mike replied. 

"I got into trouble." Eliza sighed sharply. 

"And I was with her and her family," Mike added. "We snuck out at night and there were these poachers, hunting some animals. As poachers do." 

This made the girls panic. 

"Poachers?"

"With guns?"

"What happened?!"

"Go on, guys."

"There were these three cheetah cubs we knew," Eliza explained to her new friends. "Like kittens, o-only wild. Well, we were running when we heard shots."

"And a man dropped out of a helicopter on a ladder and grabbed one of them named Tally." Mike added.

"I-I called him that," Eliza then said. "I tried to save him, but they cut the ladder, and... I fell. Tally was gone."

The girls gasped and cried from the very sad story. 

"Poor Tally!" Victoria frowned. 

"I think he's alive," Eliza then said to them. "I just feel it."

"This is terrible!" Jane frowned. "Can't we write letters or something?"

"Let's have a Bake Sale!" Victoria suggested. 

The other girls happily agreed and tried to pitch in as they felt that they had to help out the poor cheetah cub somehow. 

"Thanks, you guys, but--" Eliza smiled, but then suddenly, the door came open to show a certain girl who was wet and wore a raincoat with an umbrella beside her. 

"What's going on in my room, and why wasn't I invited?" Sarah asked sharply. 

"Sarah, Eliza and Mike were just telling us the most awful story about..." Victoria frowned as she approached the snooty girl as she looked ready to cry right there, but didn't. "Tally."

"Never mind," Sarah rolled her eyes and soon shoved the umbrella in her arms as she came into her room to take off her coat and to climb into bed. "I've been at Mrs. Fairgood's, filling out a report and I'm quite tired. You'll all have to go."

"Seriously?" Mike rolled her eyes. "What makes you so special anyway?"

"My parents are very good friends with Mrs. Fairgood, you know." Sarah replied. 

"Good night, Mike and Eliza," The girls said as they began to leave the room. "Good night, Sarah."

"Night, Eliza." Mike added as she left the room with the other girls. 

"Night, you guys!" Eliza smiled at them. 

"I still can't believe you harbored a wild animal in my room, and I never--" Sarah complained to Eliza as she soon crawled into bed to tuck herself in before yelping as she yanked the blanket right off as she felt something. "There are peas in my bed!"

Eliza smiled innocently and soon turned out the light for herself and Sarah that night.

 _'Tally has to be alive... I just know it too...'_ Mike thought to herself before she began to fall asleep after Claire was sound asleep before she soon fell fast asleep as well. _'I just gotta help find him somehow... With Eliza... But how and what can I do?'_


	4. Chapter 4

Mike found herself running through a forest. Her heart was pounding and she could hear the beat in her head and her breath was getting shallow and heavy as she was running. She was in her wolf form and luckily, she wasn't running away from home like she did that made her end up in Pride Rock, meeting King Mufasa, Queen Sarabi, Prince Simba, and more... No, she seemed to be running for fun as she dreamt about the wolf friends she made when she ended up in Pride Rock: Kiba, Tsume, Hige, and Toboe. However, their running was cut short as something shook the ground and the wolves began to run as something came to erupt out of the ground, though it was a giant wolf head.

 ** _"Michelene Mazinsky, I have come for you!"_ **A dark voice demanded as her voice echoed. 

"Wait... Who said that?" Mike asked herself. 

**_"Funny, I thought you would've recognized me..."_ **The voice replied. **_"Especially from your mother's dear old friend: Ōkami."_**

"Ōkami?" Mike asked herself. "...I feel like I know that name, but I'm not sure."

 ** _"Michelene, look at me when I am talking to you."_ **The voice demanded.

Mike soon turned around and looked wide-eyed at the giant white-furred wolf head who looked right at her. "Who... Who are you?" she then asked.

"You must be falling behind on your true heritage," The wolf replied. "I am Moro: The Goddess of Wolves. You could consider me to be like your grandmother. Though I do have a child of my own."

"You have a pup?" Mike guessed.

"Not exactly." Moro replied.

A teenage girl stepped out. She was a bit older than Mike and had frizzy brown hair and appeared to wear fur and had marks on her face.

"And who is this?" Mike then asked.

"They call me 'Princess Mononoke' or 'The Wolf Girl'," The girl replied. "You will find out more about me later. Right now though, you have to help Eliza Thornberry save Tally."

"Huh?" Mike asked. "How do you know about Eliza and Tally? Isn't this a dream?"

"No, Michelene, this is much more important; this is a vision," Moro told the young tomboy. "We've been watching you from your dreams and have been trying to contact you. You must wake up and go with Eliza to save Tally the cheetah cub."

"He could be dead for all we know though," Mike frowned. "Those poachers..."

"No, Michelene, we know for a fact that he's alive," Moro replied. "I wouldn't lie to you and you can trust me."

Mike paused before swallowing thickly as she was left with a lot to think about. "But... Where am I supposed to go?" she then asked. "How will Eliza and I know where to look?"

"You will find him if you look hard enough," Moro replied. "Now go, Michelene. GO!"

* * *

The wolf goddess's voice echoed a bit before she gasped and suddenly woke up. She then sat up in her bed and breathed heavily, looking around in her room in the darkness. Claire seemed to be out of the room and Mike soon turned on the light to quickly get herself ready before there was a knock on the door. She then got the door and saw Eliza there.

"Mike, I dreamt about Shaman Mnaymbo," Eliza urgently told Mike. "We have to go and save Tally."

"I know, I had the same dream," Mike replied. "Well, not about the shaman, about Moro."

"Who's Moro?" Eliza wondered.

"No time to explain, we have to leave now," Mike said before looking at the other bed in her room. "Before Claire comes back."

"It's okay," Eliza said to her. "She must've left after Sarah got us plane tickets to go to Africa and she promised not to tell Mrs. Fairgood."

"I guess there's a proper use for that bucktooth brat after all," Mike said to herself. "Let's go then," she then said with determination. "...After we save Darwin of course."

* * *

Mike and Eliza soon left the boarding school and Mike followed her Nicktoon friend over to the barn. Luckily, it was unlocked and they soon came over to see the sleeping chimp and the only company he had was the horse who was named Thunder. 

"Darwin, wake up!" Eliza called to her best friend.

"What?" Darwin asked before he woke up and clung to her desperately. "Oh, I've tried to keep track of the days, but they bled into months!"

"It's only been four hours, Monkey Boy." Mike clarified dryly.

"But still!" Darwin cried out.

* * *

Eventually, the girls and the chimp rushed over into town as people were walking the streets of London. Some looked at them curiously, but nothing bad happened of course. They first took a subway and ended up at the airport and gave their passports at the check-in desk. Eliza and Mike were good to go, though Darwin pressed his nose up to expose his front teeth in order to impersonate Sarah since he had her passport. Luckily, they made it onto the plane and it was now time for take-off.

"Oh, riding in a plane is always a new adventure," Mike sighed to herself. "I think one of my favorite memories is riding in the skies."

"Why do you say that?" Eliza asked.

"Well, after that, I got to meet Lu, Og, Alfred, Marjorie, Wendell, and Old Queeks." Mike said.

"Ohh... That was when you became a foreign exchange student." Eliza then realized.

"Right," Mike smiled. "Going to the Albonquetine Island was a whole new sandbox for sure."

Darwin fidgeted a bit though.

"What is wrong with you?" Mike asked the chimp.

"I can't help it," Darwin groaned. "I've got hay in my skirt."

"Oh, brother." Mike rolled her eyes.

"Well, it's certainly better than riding in the baggage hold, but I still don't understand--" Darwin said to Eliza. 

"Shh! I'll tell you after the plane takes off," Eliza whispered. "I can't risk anyone finding us now." 

"Fine!" Darwin pouted. 

"We'll find you, Tally," Eliza whispered as she looked out the window. "I promise." 

Darwin soon pouted and wore Sarah's sleep mask as they took off into the sky.

* * *

When the next day came, we are shown a couple of baboons eating from a bag of chips until Donnie jumped in on them and put the bag of chips in his shorts before running off.

"Oh, sure!" Drake complained. "If the feral boy does that, it's fine, but if I do it, it's just unsanitary!"

"I think everything you do is unsanitary." Josh glared at his step-brother.

The two then got into a slap fight with each other.

"Boys." Tuesday rolled her eyes as she read a Spy Teen magazine.

"We'll be gone until after the eclipse," Nigel told Debbie. "Will you be all right with Donnie?" 

"Are you kidding?" Debbie replied sarcastically. "This will be the highlight of my young life!"

"That's the spirit, Poodles!" Nigel beamed at that. 

"Ugh... And I thought my dad was out of touch with reality." Tuesday muttered to herself. 

"Dad, have you completely lost your ability to recognize sarcasm?" Debbie scoffed at her father. 

"I'm not sure I ever had it, Deborah," Nigel remarked. "Now, stay close to camp. If you're lucky, you might see a hyena roving about."

"Excuse me while I go find a container for my joy." Debbie muttered thickly. 

"Very well, we'll wait right here," Nigel then said before he thought about it for a moment and chuckled in amusement. "Oh! That's sarcasm, isn't it? You do that rather frequently, don't you?" he then asked the teenage girl.

"Debbie, just how long is this sulking going to go on?" Marianne asked her teenage daughter in exasperation.

"Well, maybe she wouldn't be like this if you let her come to school with us or something," Tuesday replied. "It bums me out that I can't see my best friend during Fall, Winter, or Spring."

"Yeah, and my band needs a singer!" Drake replied. "I mean, my guitar playin's cool and all and Josh plays a killer harmonica like from The Blues Brothers, but still!"

Marianne just sighed at the teenagers. "We'll think about it, okay?" she then asked. "We better get going."

"Have fun, I guess." Drake shrugged.

"Good luck, Mr. and Mrs. Thornberry." Josh added.

"I'm glad you boys are having fun on this trip too." Marianne said to him.

"Just as long as we're away from Megan." Drake smirked quietly.

"I wanna love my new sister, but she makes it very impossible," Josh replied. "Why can't she be cool and friendly like that Carly Shay girl?"

"Why don't we take the Congocon for a spin?" Debbie asked her friends and boyfriend as she rushed over to the vehicle.

"Absolutely not!" Marianne scolded. "But do have fun!"

Debbie rolled her eyes at that. A baboon soon dropped down after chasing Donnie around and it shook its butt in her face before running off.

"That is so wrong." Debbie complained.

* * *

Back with Mike, Eliza, and Darwin, they were asleep on the train as they made it into the jungles. However, something woke up the girls prematurely. 

"Help! The poachers!" A voice cried out. "I've been shot!"

"Mike? Mike! Wake up." Eliza called to her friend.

"Huh?" Mike yawned a bit. "Is it time for dessert?"

"No, but look!" Eliza told her.

Mike and Eliza soon looked out the windows to see that a rhino was trapped in a net and was running for its life while crying for help. 

"That rhino's been shot!" Mike gasped. "We have to help him!"

"Darwin, get up!" Eliza told her best friend.

"Wh-What?!" Darwin yelped before he woke up next.

"We have to get this train to stop." Mike suggested.

The girls soon tried to wedge through the crowd in the aisles to try to tell the engineer to stop the train. However, their pleas just seemed to fall on deaf ears. 

"He won't listen to us," Mike said to Eliza. "Eliza, this might be risky, but give me your hand."

"Why?" Eliza asked.

"I'm gonna get us off of this train." Mike said as she held out her hand.

Eliza hesitated at first before she soon took Mike's hand. The two soon jumped off of the train and went tumbling and rolling down the ground. Darwin looked too scared to jump after the girls, but had no choice as the engineer opened the door on him and it made him fall after the girls. The engineer then shrugged and shut the door to get back to driving the train. The rhino breathed shallowly and soon fell on the ground in exhaustion.

* * *

"Hang on, we'll get help!" Eliza told the rhino. "You'll be okay!"

"What happened here?" Mike asked the rhino in concern.

"They shot me... At the river... They were trying to take my horn... When I run away!" The rhino panted and explained what had happened to him.

"Don't worry; we'll think of something." Mike told the rhino.

A van was soon shown to be riding away, not too far away from them.

"Help! Help!" Eliza called out and waved her arms.

"Over here!" Mike added. "This rhino's been shot!"

The van soon came to a stop and a couple of people soon came out. There was a blonde man with a dark-haired woman. Luckily, they seemed to be helpful as they soon came to see the two girls and the injured rhino.

"Please help us!" Eliza begged to the two adults who came over. "This rhino's been shot!"

"Hold this, right here." The woman said as she brought out a compress to help heal the injured rhino. 

"Is he still alive?" Mike asked nervously as Eliza took the compress to help the woman out. 

"Barely, but don't worry, honey, I think I can save him." The woman replied.

"You're very brave young ladies," The man said to Mike and Eliza. "We saw you jump from that train."

"Thanks, we just had to save this rhino." Mike replied. 

"Yeah, w-w-we--" Eliza added until she noticed that the man had something that looked familiar to her. "That's the knife from the man who took Tally." she whispered to herself.

"Excuse me?" The man asked Eliza.

"Honey, keep applying pressure." The woman said to Eliza urgently.

"I-I'm sorry... We just--" Eliza stammered.

A siren was soon heard as someone else soon drove over.

"Oh, thank goodness," The man sighed in relief. "The authorities."

"What happened here?" A cop asked as he stepped out with a notepad. 

"Poachers shot him. They're at the river," Eliza explained to the cop. "Please, you must find them. They took a cheetah cub!" she then added urgently. 

"A cheetah." The cop repeated as he took notes. 

"I recognized their knife," Eliza then explained. "You have to call Jomo Umbelli." 

"You know Jomo?" The cop then asked her.

Mike seemed to stare at the couple like she didn't trust them, though they didn't seem to notice or just ignored her stare. 

"Yes, yes! He's best friends with my father: Nigel Thornberry," Eliza said to the cop. "Just tell him Eliza and Mike found the knife. He'll know what it means."

"We were just at the river," The man suddenly said. "There was no sign of poachers." 

"Who are you anyway?" Mike soon asked the couple strangely.

"Oh, by the way, I'm Sloan Blackburn," The man soon said. "We're studying the endangered wildlife."

The cop soon said something in his native language into his walkie-talkie to ask for back-up."

"There's going to be one less rhino in the world if we don't get this poor guy back to our camp." The woman frowned. 

"My wife, Bree," Sloan then introduced. "She's a wildlife veterinarian. We'll take him to The Rhino Sanctuary." 

"Hm... Good to meet ya, I guess," Mike shrugged. "My name's Mike Mazinsky."

Eliza frowned as a tear seemed to roll down her cheek. 

"Girls, they'll take care of him," Sloan promised. "Don't worry."

Mike put her arm around Eliza to help comfort her as the men went to take the rhinos away. 

"Girls, can we give you a lift somewhere?" Sloan then asked. "You really shouldn't be alone with poachers out there." 

"No, thanks," Eliza replied softly. "Our camp's not too far from here."

"Yeah, and I'm gonna go with her." Mike added. 

"We have to get back to our work, girls, but I do hope we see you again." Bree said to Mike and Eliza.

"Uh-huh..." Mike nodded, though she tried to keep her suspicions to herself. 

"Us too." Eliza smiled hopefully. 

Bree and Sloan soon went back into their van and drove off just as Darwin caught up with the girls. 

"Uh, thanks for your help! Bye!" Eliza called out before looking at the chimp. "Come on, Dar. We have to find those poachers."

"Shouldn't we look for your parents, Eliza?" Mike asked. "It might be the better option."

"I agree with Mike," Darwin replied. "You saw what those poachers did to that rhino."

"But if they're nearby, then Tally is too!" Eliza then said.

"If those awful people see you again, they'll... W, they'll hurt you," Darwin warned his best human friend. "And I'm not going to let that happen."

"You're right, Darwin. We can't do this alone," Eliza soon admitted. "All right, we'll find my parents' camp."

"That's the spirit!" Mike replied. "Now where do we go?"

"Just follow me." Eliza nodded. 

"It's not far, is it?" Darwin asked nervously. 

"We'll get there..." Eliza reassured. "By morning."

"Oh, boy." Mike muttered to herself. 

"Oh! Oh, I wish we'd never left Lady Beatrice's," Darwin complained as they walked off which would take quite some time. "Thunder said there'd be days like this." 

"Hopefully this won't take long," Mike said to herself. "There's just something about those two I don't trust."

"How could you not trust them?" Eliza asked. "They helped that rhino and even offered us a ride. What's so suspicious about that?"

"It's called a Wolf Sense, Eliza," Mike rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't understand."

"Yeah, well, I think you're wrong," Eliza replied. "Let's just go."

Mike sighed sharply as they kept on walking.

* * *

Meanwhile, it was night time at the Thornberry family's camp and Debbie and Tuesday were telling a story to Donnie while Drake and Josh tried to sleep. 

"So, this cute dude named Jack plants these magic beans, cuz he's like, you know, hungry," Debbie narrated. "Then a mondo beanstalk grows overnight way up into the clouds!"

Donnie jumped up and down with a giggle.

"Bush babies, how annoying..." Debbie scoffed, then pulled her hair up into a ponytail after she finished brushing it. "So, Jack, who's totally buff, by the way, climbs up the beanstalk and finds a golden goose, a golden harp, and a big, scary..."

There was then a very loud thump which shook the Comvee and woke up Drake and Josh.

"Giant?" Tuesday gulped nervously. "...I really hope that wasn't Glowface."

Donnie ran around and started to climb out of the Comvee. Debbie was very scared and worried about her adoptive younger brother and started to try to look for him before he would get himself hurt.

"Donnie? Donnie!" Tuesday whispered loudly. "Ugh... I never have this trouble when I have to look after Truman."

Donnie soon jumped down, wearing a pasta drainer on his head, wielding a ladle and a pot top, looking like a kitchenware warrior, and even did a battle cry. He rushed out the door, going to protect the others.

"Donnie! Go to sleep!" Josh complained.

"Yeah! I need my beauty sleep!" Drake added.

"Like you would even need it." Josh rolled his eyes.

A giant bag was dropped down in the middle of the ground, halting them.

"What the--?!" Tuesday asked, wide-eyed. 

"Radcliffe!" A familiar voice snapped. "You never told me how to land!"

"Grandmumsy?" Debbie asked in surprise.

"It's all in the knees, Cordie!" Colonel Thornberry called to his wife.

"Colonel?" Debbie asked, confused.

"Erm... Hello there, Colonel Thornberry... Sir..." Josh grinned nervously at his girlfriend's grandfather.

"You and your friends are looking well, Deborah..." Colonel chuckled as he accidentally crashed into a tree, dangling high above them now before letting himself down and approaching his eldest grandchild. "Do we have a kiss for Grandpapa?"

"Uh, sure..." Josh said to him.

"But where's Mrs. Thornberry?" Tuesday asked. "And we mean your wife, not Debbie's mother."

"Oh, she's up there, lass." Colonel Thornberry replied as he pointed up before his wife was coming slowly down after him. 

Cordelia ended up in the ground, having trouble with her parachute. "I knew I shouldn't have brought the good china..." she soon said nervously. 

"...The heck is going on here?!" Drake complained.

* * *

They soon came inside the Comvee to share some tea to talk about what was going on.

"Debbie, dreadful news: Your sister and her ruffian friend have run away from Lady Beatrice's." Cordelia told her granddaughter. 

"Undercover of night, with Darwin." Colonel Thornberry added. 

"Excuse me?!" Debbie glared. "Uh, did you say the monkey got to go to London?"

 ** _"Debbie, are you there? Over."_ **Marianne's voice asked on the walkie-talkie. 

"Mom! Guess who's here?" Debbie grinned as she soon took the walkie-talkie to answer it. 

"There's no need to alarm your parents." Cordelia told Debbie, stopping her from saying too much. 

"What Deborah's grandmama means is there's no need to have Marianne blame her a minute earlier than necessary." Colonel Thornberry clarified as he took a spoon from Donnie and used it to stir his tea. 

"Any other reason you're here than the late-night wake-up call?" Drake complained. 

"Eliza and Michelene were seen boarding a train heading to the Congo," Cordelia informed. "We take them back to London the minute they arrive."

Debbie growled a bit in jealousy while Josh and Tuesday tried to stop her from going insane. 

**_"Debbie, who's there?"_** Marianne's voice soon asked. 

"Uh, some really cute bush babies." Debbie grinned innocently and nervously. 

**_"Debbie, did I just hear you call a wild animal 'cute'?"_** Marianne's voice asked in surprise. 

**_"That's called sarcasm, dearest."_** Nigel's voice replied with a chuckle. 

"Man, and I thought Walter was a doofy dad." Drake rolled his eyes. 

"This is gonna be a _long_ night." Drake groaned as his head hit the table suddenly.

Josh lifted up Drake's head and soon slid over a bag of marshmallows and made Drake's head fall again. 


	5. Chapter 5

The next day soon came as Mike, Eliza, and Darwin came into town. They soon ran into a bull and asked for some help as they continued their journey to find the rest of the Thornberry family as Eliza knew that her family still had to be around here. 

"Sure you can ride with us," One bull told the girls. "My owner will never know."

"All right, let's hurry before they see us." Mike then told Darwin and Eliza as they made it into the back of the covered wagon.

The driver soon came back to his wagon and went to take off. Mike sniffled and sneezed a bit as they were in company with chickens and their feathers sort of flew around from inside their tiny cages. 

"How did I end up here amongst chickens?" Darwin shuddered a little from the feathers.

"Take it easy about what you say about chickens," Mike replied. "One of my friends back home is a chicken."

"That's unusual." Darwin commented.

"Not the most unusual thing about me." Mike replied mysteriously.

And so, they rode off and hoped that the campsite wasn't too far away from their current location.

* * *

"Debbie, what are you up to?" Tuesday asked her best friend sharply.

"Just trust me on this, okay, Tues?" Debbie replied. "I'm sure you'd do the same with your little brother."

"Yeah, but maybe with a laser grid and a timer that he wouldn't be able to solve or pass through so he can't read my diary or use his inventions to prank me." Tuesday smirked.

"Next time, you're coming to our house," Drake said to her. "You can protect us against Megan."

"Donnie, this may look like a shark cage, but it's really a playpen," Debbie smiled innocently to Donnie as she brought out a large cage to keep the feral boy inside of. "It's where nice little boys play when their sisters want peace and quiet with the only friends they have while trapped in the middle of nowhere in a jungle." 

Donnie soon looked over and began to chatter in excitement as he saw someone coming.

"We must have some kind of company." Josh commented.

"Oh, boy," Drake smirked. "Is it your girlfriend, Oprah?"

Josh narrowed his eyes as Drake chuckled.

"Well, if it isn't the boarding school drop-out and her sidekicks: Chimpo and The Wolf Queen?" Debbie remarked once she saw her younger sister along with Darwin and Mike.

"Save it, Deb." Mike narrowed her eyes.

"I need to talk to Mom and Dad." Eliza added.

"Well, they're not here," Debbie said. "You can talk to us and pretend we're listening."

"Uh... Where are they?" Mike then asked.

"Off in the jungle to film the solar eclipse," Josh replied. "We're helping Debbie look after Donnie."

"I'd say he's worse than Megan, but he might actually be an improvement," Drake smirked as he played with Donnie a little and the two seemed to get along great. "You think maybe we can trade little siblings? I've always wanted a little brother."

"But the eclipse isn't until tomorrow." Eliza memorized.

"Whatever." Debbie shrugged.

"Fine," Eliza glared. "C'mon, Mike. Let's call Mom and Dad on the radio."

"Uh-uh," Debbie shook her head with a smirk. "Don't go in there~"

Eliza soon came to the Comvee doors and flinched and gasped once she saw her paternal grandparents inside, fast asleep before she shut the door. "What are they doing there?!" she then asked.

"Taking you back to England," Debbie replied. "I don't know what they'll do with Mike. Not that either of you deserves to go."

"Debbie..." Josh said softly.

"Well, either way, we're not going back to England," Mike said firmly. "We came back to find Tally and that's what we're going to do!"

"Yeah, we just need Dad's help!" Eliza added.

"What is wrong with you?!" Debbie complained. "You finally get a chance to escape our rolling jail and instead, you come back like some freaky homing pigeon!"

"Debbie, chill." Tuesday said nervously as Mike and Eliza came over to the computer to find out where to go from there. 

"NO! She _has_ to hear this!" Debbie glared as she continued. "You ruin the family name and wreck my chance of ever getting out of this place. I don't know about you, but I am not going to slow dance at my prom with some purple-butted baboon!"

"I'm not a baboon!" Drake said in defense.

Josh rolled his eyes at that. 

"Debbie, leave me alone!" Eliza complained. "I'm going to find Mom and Dad and you're not going to stop me."

"Oh, yes, I am!" Debbie glared before she began to chase after Eliza and Mike.

" **GET AWAY FROM ME!** " Mike snarled.

"Whoa, just take it easy, kid." Drake said.

"I swear, she sounded just like a wolf right then." Tuesday commented.

"Debbie, no!" Eliza cried out at her older sister as Debbie tried to grab her younger sister's backpack. 

Suddenly, Debbie tripped with Drake, Josh, and Tuesday and they all suddenly ended up in the cage, locked inside. 

"Hey! Let us out of here!" Debbie complained. 

"Sorry, Deb, you'll have to take that up with the warden~" Eliza smirked innocently as she and Mike soon went to leave.

"See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!" Mike added on the way.

"Well, this is fabulous." Drake rolled his eyes.

"Oh, yeah," Tuesday added snarkily. "The perfect place for a double date."

"Wait, guys, I think I see the keys." Josh then said.

"WHERE?!" Debbie asked.

Donnie was soon shown to have the keys as he came over to an anthill to get himself a snack. 

"Donnie, bring me the key, like a nice little animal-boy." Debbie smiled innocently and hopefully.

Donnie soon seemed to run off, though he left the keys behind.

"Must have literal ants in his pants." Tuesday commented. 

"DONNIE!" Debbie cried out before the cage suddenly fell over and the teenagers all fell on top of each other.

Drake and Josh groaned as they were underneath the girls.

"Sorry about that, boys." Tuesday said nervously.

"That's okay, Tuesday." Drake and Josh groaned.

"There's the key," Tuesday then pointed out. "We can still get it."

"Debbie, you're closer, you get 'em." Drake muffled.

Debbie winced about getting the key since it was covered with ants. She then reached out and soon got it and unlocked the door to let them out. Once the teenagers were out of the cage, they went to go after Eliza. Debbie rode the vehicle with Josh in the sidecar as they shared a ride on the Congocon while Tuesday rode with Drake on her scooter after a note was left in their place.

"Cordie! It's the blitz!" Radcliffe cried out as he suddenly woke up, hearing the teenagers outside. 

"You're dreaming, Raddie," Cordelia told her husband. "England is safe."

* * *

The teenagers continued to ride off through the jungle to find Eliza and possibly even Mike.

"When I get my hands on that ungrateful troublemaking, know-it-all sister--" Debbie grumbled as they rode through before screaming suddenly.

Debbie and Tuesday soon rode right over a cliff, though Tuesday wasn't scared. After all, she was a teenage girl who was also part of a super-secret spy family from S.U.P.E.R.I.O.R against the group called S.N.A.F.U led by the evil leader: Glowface. Luckily, they made it on the other side and didn't miss and end up literally down the river.

"Wow!" Debbie then smiled. "If I weren't so mad, this would totally rock."

"Nothing like a ride through the jungle, eh, Deb?" Tuesday chuckled at her best friend. 

"Though, I gotta say, that Mike kid reminds me of our old friend." Debbie said.

"Oh, yeah, back when you were in the Nick Jr High School," Drake commented. "Uh, what was her name? Julie Maréchal?"

"I dunno where that name came from, but no," Debbie replied. "Her name was Jen M... Something... Her last name started with an M."

"Yeah, until she mysteriously moved away." Tuesday added.

"Ahh, that's right!" Drake then nodded. "Jen was cool."

"Whatever happened to her?" Josh asked.

"She just moved away someday," Tuesday shrugged. "It's like she disappeared off the face of the Earth." 

"It's not Mosely, right?" Drake asked.

"No, Jennifer Mosely is the girl called 'Moze'," Josh reminded. "She's that girl who hangs around Ned Bigby and Simon Nelson Cooke AKA 'Cookie'."

"Oh, that's right." Drake then said.

"I feel like her last name's Masterson or something like that." Josh commented. 

Suddenly, the quartet ended up crashing through some bushes which made the Congocon and scooter ride away without them.

"Hey, get back here!" Debbie cried out. 

"Aw, man, this isn't cool!" Josh complained as he ran with Debbie after the Congocon.

"If I lose that scooter, my boss will kill me." Tuesday muttered to herself as she ran with Drake after the scooter.

* * *

**_Meanwhile..._ **

" ** _BOTH of my daughters are missing?!"_** Marianne's voice cried through the radio as her mother-in-law told her everything.

"But the good news is the chimpanzee turned up in England, but never mind that now," Cordelia replied as she lowered her glasses to look at the note left behind. "Debbie left a note. 'Don't freak'," she soon began to read aloud. "That's the children talking, not I. _'Took the Congocon to find Donnie who followed Eliza and her tomboy friend. They're going to some valley. Later, Debbie, Tuesday, Drake, and Josh'_."

* * *

"My children are in the jungle alone..." Marianne said sadly and fearfully as she stood beside her husband.

"We'll find them, lovely," Nigel soothed his wife before he decided to get help from his father. "I say, Dad, are you there?"

"Right here, my boy!" Radcliffe smiled as he answered.

"You'll have to pick us up downriver. I'll give you our coordinates," Nigel soon said hopefully. "Can you triangulate our position?"

* * *

"They didn't call me Colonel for my chicken recipe, huh?" Radcliffe chuckled as he got the map ready. "Fire away."

* * *

Meanwhile, the teenagers had caught up to the Congocon and the scooter, though they had to stop as Debbie had a hair emergency. They were soon about to be in the company of a herd of elephants.

"They couldn't have gone too far," Josh sighed. "If only we had a spare map of our own."

"Well, we don't!" Debbie complained. "Here we are driving around this sweaty jungle, looking for my ungrateful sister and her dumb little friend when I could be sitting in front of the AC watching Part 2 two of 'Before They Were Teens'. Ooh, who smells?" she then asked.

Drake and Josh looked at each other before looking wide-eyed as they saw the elephant herd. 

"'Cuz it's completely overpowering my vanilla-ginger body splash!" Debbie then continued.

"That would be the elephant herd you just missed." Tuesday grinned bashfully.

"Elephants?" Debbie rolled her eyes as she tied her hair back into ints ponytail. "Whatever. Let's just get out of here."

They soon went back to riding off after Debbie's hair was taken care of. 

"I wonder where they're all going?" Josh asked.

"I dunno, maybe they're gonna join the circus or something." Drake shrugged.

"Hmm..." Josh paused thoughtfully.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the deep depths of the jungle, Mike, Eliza, and Darwin continued to explore. Mike began to have flashbacks of when she camped out with Lu and Og to find a rare butterfly that Og wanted to find and catch while Lu made up scary stories about something called a woolly mountain elephant which ended up being real in the end. 

"Donnie! Donnie? Donnie!" Mike and Eliza called out, but there was no sign of the feral boy until a few moments after.

Donnie appeared to be dangling from a tree by his shorts, though someone was carrying him. 

"Does this, uh, human belong to anyone?" A male gorilla asked as he came out of the tree and held onto Donnie by his shorts. 

"Thanks," Eliza smiled in relief. "I hope he wasn't any trouble."

"Not really," The male gorilla reassured as a female gorilla, who was likely to be his mate, also came down from the tree. "But you might want to tell him that when a gorilla is sleeping, he doesn't want a dung beetle shoved up his nose."

"Yeah! Not cool!" The female gorilla huffed.

Donnie then snorted the dung beetle out his nose which made Mike duck down until the bug ended up on Darwin's shirt. 

"We're hoping it's just a phase." Darwin smiled bashfully after he got the beetle off of him.

"Just take him and go," The female gorilla scoffed. "I get enough trouble from my cousin, Tarzan."

"Tarzan?" Mike asked. "As in The Ape Man?"

"You know Tarzan?" The female gorilla replied. 

"Yeah, I've heard stories about him," Mike said. "But... Who are you?"

"Name's Terk," The female gorilla replied. "This here's Gobu."

"Terk?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, only don't call me 'Terkina', otherwise you'll haveta answer to _this_." The female gorilla said before clenching her fist around a banana and soon squashed it in her grip as she was deadly serious.

"Terk, I think you and I would get along strongly in another universe." Mike chuckled. 

"Hm..." Terk seemed to smirk at that.

"Anyway, we're looking for Eliza's parents," Mike then said to the gorillas. "You wouldn't have happened to see them, would you?"

"They're on their way to Tembo Valley." Eliza added.

"Two people." Gobu nodded.

"Were they riding in those loud whirlybirds?" Terk then asked. "...Or whatever that word Jane calls them?" 

"Uh, do you mean helicopters?" Eliza asked back.

"Guys, it might be the poachers." Darwin warned, but they seemed to ignore him. 

"Did you see them?" Eliza asked hopefully as Terk soon came over to a baby gorilla and came to carry it on her back with a small smile. "Did they have a cheetah cub with them?"

"We only saw the whirlybirds land on the ground and then we saw people putting a fence across the valley." Gobu explained. 

"A fence?" Eliza asked. "What for?" 

The gorillas shook their heads.

"Uh, cute baby." Mike then said.

"Thanks," Terk smirked. "His name's Little Kerchak."

"That's a nice name." Mike smiled. 

"Something's up..." Eliza said suspiciously before asking, "What's the quickest way to the valley?"

"Follow the river," Gobu advised. "Be careful."

"Thanks, guys, we will," Mike promised. "Come on, Darwin, it's time to get Donnie and head for the river."

"Donnie, this is no time for your games!" Darwin complained as the feral boy jumped on his shoulders, trying to stick the dung beetle up his nose and soon did. The chimp then grunted and tried to get it out. 

"Don't force it, Chimp," Gobu said out of amusement. "It'll come out in its own good time." 

"Pretty solid advice," Mike remarked. "At least it's better than having a bone in your nose like Haggis and Baggis Cuzzlewitz." 

And so, they made way over to Tembo Valley as Nigel, Marianne, Cordelia, and Radcliffe traveled through the water with the hydro function on their Comvee.

* * *

Meanwhile, it was soon night time and the teenagers continued to travel with the moon as their only source of light. 

"Eliza! Donnie! Weird Pigtailed Kid!" Debbie called out. "I have had enough of this! I am not in the mood!" she then groaned to herself. "Oh, great. I'm turning into Mom."

"We should probably stop for the night or something," Tuesday suggested. "It's getting late and we have no idea where we're going on."

"Hang on, I'll turn on the lights." Debbie replied before she turned on the lights of the Congocon. 

As the lights came on, an antelope looked wide-eyed as he was found like that. Debbie then screamed as she and Josh went out of control on the Congocon before they ended up in the mud.

"DEBBIE! JOSH!" Drake and Tuesday cried out before they got off of the scooter to come and check on them.

"Are you okay?" Tuesday asked.

"We're fine!" Josh groaned. "Aside from the mud and all."

"And now this old hunk of junk is busted! Great!" Debbie complained as she came out of the Congocon with Josh and then tried to kick it, only to slip and then fall in the mud.

Drake cupped his mouth with a small snicker which made Tuesday nudge him firmly as this was no time to be laughing. A couple of warthogs soon came out which startled the teenagers.

"Easy, easy... We might've had pork chops for breakfast, but there's no need to attack us." Drake smiled nervously as he backed up with the others. "I-I actually wanna be vegetarian when I grow up! Yeah! I totally love animals and can't wait to operate them when people call me!"

"That's a _veterinarian_!" Josh corrected.

"Shh! They don't know that!" Drake shushed his step-brother.

A branch with fire on it was soon thrown out. That was enough to scare away the warthogs as they squealed and ran away from the teenagers. A couple of African teenagers stepped out with lit torches. One was a boy and the other was a girl and they both appeared to have loincloths, though the girl had a tube top and had an orange flower in her long black hair. She also appeared to have a very special, almost gold, necklace. 

"Um, thanks," Debbie smiled nervously to the native boy. "I don't normally look this bad, just so you know..."

The native boy then helped her and her friends up out of the mud.

"Which reminds me, have you seen, like a dorky girl with braces and an annoying with her?" Debbie asked the native kids. "Oh, and a monkey wearing clothes and a wild boy?"

The native spoke in his language, not understanding what Debbie was asking him.

"My friend does not understand you, I am sorry." The girl said to them.

"And you can?" Josh asked. "How does that work?"

"I speak through winds that our grandmother taught us because she trusts me to make love and peace spread throughout the world," The girl explained. "I know it is strange, but we can try to help you out."

"You can? Great!" Tuesday beamed. "...Even though that explanation doesn't make a whole lot of sense, especially to those without context or has no way to be possible, I'll take it!" 

"Sometimes you just have to go with it." The girl replied.

"Oh, you have no idea what kind of day I've been having," Debbie sounded exhausted. "Do you have a sister?"

"Boko..." The boy then said before gesturing to the girl beside him. "Ndudi." 

"I am his friend," The girl then said. "What are your names then?"

Oh, I'm sorry. That was rude," Debbie soon realized that they hadn't been properly introduced. "I'm Debbie."

"My name's Tuesday." The green-haired girl added.

"I'm Drake." The better-looking boy smirked.

"And I'm Josh." The average looking boy added.

Ndudi soon came up to Drake with a smirk.

"Easy, sister!" Tuesday warned as she came between her boyfriend and the native girl. "You can help us out, but you better back off of him or I'll show you some judo throws I've been practicing since before I could even walk." 

Ndudi looked bashful and chuckled innocently. "I am sorry."

"You better be." Tuesday rolled her eyes.

"Hey, Boko, Ndudi, you don't have like, a premoistened towelette on you by chance, do you?" Debbie soon asked the native boy.

The native kids soon saw some people coming and gestured them over in their native language. The group soon came over to meet Debbie, Tuesday, Drake, and Josh and spoke to them, though they had no idea what was being said.

"It is very nice to meet you." Ndudi said to the American teenagers.

"Oh... No one else speaks English." Debbie said sheepishly.

Suddenly, the Congocon and the scooter were shown to be in the mud and were now sinking slowly, but there didn't seem to be a chance to get them out.

"I am so... Grounded." Debbie then said lowly.

"I might have to be relocated to the ocean." Tuesday gulped nervously about her S.U.P.E.R.I.O.R scooter.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mike looked up at the sky as the moon seemed to slowly be turning into a full one, though she noticed her body parts were slowly changing back and forth through her wolf form and human form. She just hoped it wouldn't come out too soon, even though she didn't trust Bree and Sloan like Eliza did earlier with her Wolf Sense. 

"Look... A campfire!" Eliza told Darwin and Mike. "It must be my parents! Mom! Dad!"

They soon came out of the bushes to see the Blackburn couple again by the campfire and eating some dinner.

"Bree? S-Sloan?" Eliza asked in surprise.

"Eliza, Mike, what are you doing out here?" Bree asked in surprise.

"The poachers are here," Eliza explained. "They put up a fence in Tembo Valley." 

"Really?" Bree then asked. "Did you see them?"

"No. l-I-I mean, yes, I saw them a-and now we have to find my parents," Eliza replied. "They're filming the elephants."

"That's why we're here, too," Bree then said. "To count the elephant population." 

"If we can find any, of course." Sloan added. 

"Count the elephant population?" Mike asked suspiciously as she took out her backpack and brought out her red-hooded jacket and zipped it up as Eliza put herself in a sweater as it was rather cold at night. 

"They're really hard to find. They only--" Eliza said to Bree and Sloan before suddenly remembering something her father told her. "Oh, no."

"What's wrong?" Sloan asked her. 

"They stay in the forest except during the eclipse," Eliza explained based on what her father told her before the boarding school trip. "All the poachers must have heard the legend. They're after the elephants."

"WHAT?!" Bree and Sloan asked out of shock. 

"They must be planning to catch them!" Eliza soon panicked. "There'll be a thousand out in the open. We have to call Jomo right away!"

"Yeah, do you have a phone or something?" Mike added. 

Sloan went to try to use the radio, though he had a bit of bad news. "No signal. Of all times." he then said with a sigh.

"Well, can't you fix it?" Mike asked with narrowed eyes. "It's your radio."

"Guys, guys, let's stay calm," Bree said to them. "We can't do anything about it tonight. Tomorrow we'll find Eliza's parents and use their radio. It's settled."

"Bree's right," Sloan added. "The poachers won't try to go after the elephants before the eclipse."

"And how on Earth do you know?" Mike asked suspiciously. "Can't you see Eliza and I are worried about Tally?!" 

Bree and Sloan glanced over.

"The cheetah cub we told you about." Eliza then explained. 

"Girls, it's dark," Sloan replied. "No sense getting yourselves lost in the jungle."

"We won't get lost and I'm fine in the dark." Mike glared.

Donnie soon began to climb to go into the vehicle's window as he saw something. 

"Donnie, get back here!" Eliza scolded her little brother. 

"No, no, Donnie. I wouldn't want you to go in there and make a mess," Bree smiled innocently as she soon grabbed Donnie to keep him from going inside. "Now, you and your chimp and your friend and your little brother, you can sleep right here."

"Hmph." Mike narrowed her eyes with a scoff.

Donnie then suddenly dropped down and fell asleep. Everyone soon got ready to go to sleep. Bree and Sloan went inside to get some rest after Eliza, Donnie, and Darwin did as well. Mike soon stared up at the full moon and put her hand over her chest.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" Eliza asked Mike.

"I think I need to go out for a little Wolf Run for a while," Mike replied. "I'll be back later."

"Uh, okay, but Mike? Look out for those poachers, okay?" Eliza then said. "If they see you, they might try to hunt you."

"Pfft! I'm not scared of a couple of poachers," Mike rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine."

"Well, okay, good night then." Eliza then said as she went to go to sleep.

"You too, Eliza," Mike replied as she soon stretched and let out a wolf howl as she turned into an orange-colored wolf and soon took off into the night. "I'll see ya later."

Bree thought she heard something and soon looked out the window to see the orange-colored wolf out and about and looked curious and suspicious as she decided to go after it eventually. After all, it would've been a very rare breed, especially due to its color.

* * *

**_Meanwhile, someplace else in the story..._ **

"You guys, we can't sleep now!" Eddy said to Double D and Ed in Cartoon Network City. "We gotta get Mike back!"

"Eddy, it's late at night and she's went to Africa with Eliza Thornberry and her family," Double D reminded. "How do we get to Africa when we can't afford plane tickets, passports, or anything else like that?"

"And jawbreakers to take with us?!" Ed cried out. "I can't leave the country or else Sarah will tell Mom!"

"Forget Sarah!" Eddy rolled his eyes. "Mike is more important! We have to bring her back home once and for all!"

"But how, Eddy?" Double D reminded. "How do we catch up to her and the Thornberry family?"

Eddy paused for a moment before smirking. "Aha!" he then said once he had an idea. "Mike's gone to the Thornberrys, right?"

"Yes...?" Double D replied as Ed began to bawl about the loss of Mike.

"And where are the Thornberrys from? Nicktropolis," Eddy continued as he kept his smirk. "Then we go to Nicktropolis and find out how to get to Mike with one of her Nicktoon pals."

"Eddy, we're not allowed to go over there!" Double D reminded. "Weasel was very firm and specific ever since he got into that incident with Norbert Beaver!"

"Big deal!" Eddy rolled his eyes. "We'll be there and back before Weasel even knows that we're gone!"

"I call shotgun!" Ed grinned hopefully as he suddenly stopped crying.

Double D looked very sick to his stomach about what they had to do to go and get Mike back, though he would try to stay strong as he did miss Mike as well.

"Plus no one will even know we're gone to Nicktropolis," Eddy smirked. "Just leave it to me. No one will ever know!"

The Eds soon took off running. However, they didn't know or realize that Ed's sister was behind the wall with a stethoscope to overhear their conversation clearly and grinned darkly to herself as she soon ran off to get her brother and his friends in trouble.

* * *

The boys soon rented a boat at the docks and went to go straight to Nicktropolis. 

"YEE-HAW!" Eddy grinned as he drove the boat while Double D looked scared and nervous as he held his hat in place while Ed laughed loudly and goofily. 

Eventually, the boys made it over to Nicktropolis. They began to ask everybody about how to get to the Thornberry family. SpongeBob and Sandy just shook their heads, Timmy Turner appeared to be holding hands with Cindy Vortex before they shook their heads, not even Reggie and Otto Rocket had any ideas. 

"DOESN'T ANYBODY KNOW HOW TO GET TO THOSE WILD THORNBERRYS WITHOUT AN AIRPLANE OR MONEY TO PAY WITH?!" Eddy yelled out which seemed to anger and annoy the Nickelodeon community.

"Perhaps I could be of service?" A boy asked from behind him.

"Huh?" Eddy blinked before turning around to see the local boy genius. "Uh... Who're you supposed to be, Fudge Head?"

"James Isaac Neutron at your service, but please call me Jimmy," Jimmy smiled at him. "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius."

"Boy genius?" Eddy rolled his eyes. "We got one of those, his name's Dexter," he then smirked. "I bet he's smarter than you."

"If you're going to insult me, then I won't help you find your friend Mike," Jimmy scoffed as he went to walk away. "I knew her pretty well when she ended up at our beach house."

"Uh! Wait! I was just kiddin', kid!" Eddy grinned nervously. "So, uh, you have a way to bring Mike back to me and the boys?"

"I don't know about bringing her back, but I can track her down and send you over to her location and where she is with the Thornberry family, but--" Jimmy explained only to be interrupted.

"YOU CAN?!" Eddy grinned as he hugged the boy genius in deep gratitude. "Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you! How soon can ya get it ready?"

"It might be a while," Jimmy replied. "It might be a couple of days until I can get you straight to her."

"A couple of days?!" Eddy glared. "What kinda boy genius are you? Can't you whip something up pronto?!"

"Genius can't be rushed," Jimmy told him. "Now be patient or you'll probably never see Mike again."

Eddy blinked before shrugging and crossed his arms. "Fine... But make it quick, Nerd-tron!" he then huffed.

Jimmy rolled his eyes and soon walked away to go and get started. 


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning came as Drake, Tuesday, Josh, and Debbie soon woke up in a hut.

"Ugh... My head..." Drake groaned. "Josh, what'd you get us into this time?"

"Me?!" Josh glared. "I didn't do anything!"

"Will you two knock it off?" Tuesday complained before looking around. "Hmm... Looks like a duo mission that my family and I once had with The Z's before they went missing-in-action from their untimely final mission."

Debbie soon looked around and saw her friends and boyfriend. 

"Oh, good, you're awake too," Tuesday said to her best friend. "Guess we had a killer night last night."

"Yeah... Oh, I would look so hot in this..." Debbie nodded before she saw a blanket left behind and decided to wear it over her muddy pants.

"Aww! I want a cute blanket too!" Tuesday pouted.

"I'll get you one." Drake smiled at her before Josh began to look outside the hut to see the villagers going about their day.

"Watch your head, Debbie." Josh warned his girlfriend before wincing.

"OW!" Debbie grunted as she hit her head on the roof before she joined Josh outside as Tuesday and Drake followed behind them.

The villagers smiled as they looked at the teenagers, appearing to be very friendly luckily enough. Boko soon approached the teenagers, speaking to them as he gave them something with a leaf that looked like food.

"Thanks! I'm starving!" Debbie said as she began to eat the food up.

"Well, don't hog it!" Drake told her. "We exist too, ya know!"

Debbie then shared with Drake and Josh while Tuesday seemed to avoid the food.

"This reminds me of when The Z family had to eat bugs and plants to survive during their mission in these jungles." Tuesday said to herself.

"Whatever happened to the Z family anyway?" Drake asked his girlfriend.

"...I just heard from S.U.P.E.R.I.O.R that it was an accident." Tuesday shrugged softly.

"Man. Bummer." Drake commented.

"Wait, bugs?" Josh's eyes widened before looking at a nearby anthill as village children were gathering some ants themselves.

"Mm... Delicious!" Debbie grinned nervously as she gave the leaf back to Boko.

"Excuse me, my friends, but we have something for you." Ndudi said as she came to the American teenagers.

"Yeah?" Debbie asked. "What is it? I hope it's not more of that... Erm... Really good ant food!"

"No..." Ndudi chuckled in amusement as she shook her head before looking behind her and spoke in her native language and moved her hands forward.

A group of the villagers soon showed the Congocon and Tuesday's Spy Scooter were out of the mud and looked good as new. 

"THANK YOU!" Drake, Josh, Debbie, and Tuesday beamed in relief as they came to the vehicles.

"Hey, my soda!" Debbie beamed as she took a can out of the sidecar and soon drank it after opening it.

"Technically my soda since I was sitting on it." Josh shrugged to himself.

"Sorry. Do you want some?" Debbie soon said as she saw Boko coming over to her.

Boko decided to take the can and drank some of the soda before it seemed to taste weird for him and bubbles came out of his nose. This made everyone else laugh a little as it was funny looking. 

"Delicious?" Boko grinned sheepishly.

Debbie smiled at her new friend before she heard her watch going off which reminded her of something. "We're really late for the whole finding-my-sister-and-her-new-friend thing," she then said before seeing Boko staring at her watch. "It's pretty cool, huh? And it's waterproof for up to three feet."

"It's pretty handy honestly." Tuesday added.

"How incredibly interesting." Ndudi commented. 

"Hey, why don't you keep it?" Debbie offered to Boko as she slid off her watch and decided to give it to him as a gift. "Oh, and thanks for the skirt. You did give me this, right? Boko give Debbie?" she then asked. 

"Debbie give Boko?" Boko replied as he now wore Debbie's watch. 

"Hey! That was pretty good." Drake commented. 

"Oh, I'm so good at this communication stuff." Debbie smiled.

* * *

And so, the teenagers got ready to leave the village on their respective vehicles.

"We'll be fine, really. I know exactly where I'm going," Debbie replied. "Plus Tuesday used to know a family who used to, uh, go camping all the time. Bye! Bye! Bye, Boko and Ndudi!"

The villagers watched the teenagers leave as Debbie rode off on the Congocon before she got caught by a vine which pulled her out of her seat and she suddenly ended up on the ground. 

"Well, that just happened." Drake rolled his eyes. 

"Hey, who put that vine there?!" Debbie complained before she decided to go again. "Bye, again. Bye. No. I-I'm really... I'm leaving now. Whoa!"

Tuesday and Drake face-palmed as they rode off with no trouble, though Debbie seemed to have bad luck with Josh. Then suddenly, they came out of the bushes and the villagers watched them. 

"Hi, again," Debbie smiled nervously. "I'm just a little turned around."

"I can tell that we're going to need some help around here." Josh suggested.

"Maybe someone should go with you," Ndudi said to the teenagers before looking at Boko and nodded at him. "In case you get lost since you don't know our area well."

"Debbie..." Boko added as he came to go with the blonde girl.

"Boko, listen. You can't come with us, okay?" Debbie told the African boy. "It's not that I don't like you, because we do. And it's not about the height thing, 'cuz it isn't. I just can't drag you into this family drama."

"DEBBIE?!" Josh's eyes widened in fear as he saw something coming right behind the blonde girl.

"Not now, Joshy," Debbie told him as she kept talking, unaware that a python was slithering right behind her as she talked. "Things may get ugly."

Boko soon saw the deadly snake and soon lunged out at it to keep it away from Debbie and her friends. 

"I have to find my brat sister, and believe me she is good at this jungle stuff," Debbie continued until she saw what Boko just did and soon decided to let him come along after all as she brought out another spare helmet. "Think this'll fit? I'll try to make Josh make some room."

* * *

**_Meanwhile..._ **

Eliza and Darwin were fast asleep as dawn approached, though the girl suddenly woke up. They appeared to be alone aside from just the two of them which meant one thing...

"Darwin!" Eliza tried to wake up her best friend. "Donnie and Mike are gone. We need to find them. The eclipse is in a few hours."

"Oh, but Donnie is always missing and I was dreaming about shepherd's pie." Darwin groaned as he soon woke up while rubbing his eye sleepily.

Eliza soon began to knock on the metal door to wake up her new adult friends. "Bree, Sloan, have you seen Donnie or Mike? They're--" she then asked before the door soon opened until she saw a certain feral little brother of hers. "Donnie! Sloan told you to stay out of there."

Donnie chattered as if he was trying to tell Eliza something before he soon went inside to lead them into the trailer. 

"Bree, Sloan! ...Mike?" Eliza called before she saw her Cartoon Cartoon friend.

"Hey, you won't believe what we just found," Mike said to Eliza. "Watch your step though. I knew there was a reason why I couldn't trust these jerks." 

"Mike? What're you talking about?" Eliza asked before she saw a lot of technology such as cameras and radars inside of the trailer. "What is all this...?" she then asked before yelping as she tripped over an elephant tusk.

"It's a poacher cesspool of crime and villainy, that's what it is," Mike narrowed her eyes. "And you thought that we could trust Bree and Sloan, but I showed you, didn't I with my special Wolf Sense?!"

"I don't like this place," Darwin said nervously as he held the boy's hand. "We've got Donnie and Mike. Now, let's go."

There was then some sort of cat-like sound heard from behind Eliza.

"What's that? Something's in there," Eliza said as she found the source of the sound and moved the covering to see that there was a kennel cage and a certain cheetah cub was shown. "Tally?!" 

"Hey, buddy." Mike said to the cheetah cub softly.

"Don't worry. I'll get you out of there." Eliza promised as she opened up the cage and freed him as they were finally reunited.

"Eliza!" Tally beamed as he tackled down the girl to the floor playfully. 

"Oh, Tally!" Eliza smiled as she hugged the cheetah cub. "Oh, I knew I'd find you."

"Yeah, that's great, but let's beat it." Mike suddenly said.

"She's right, Eliza," Tally agreed. "We have to get out of here."

"What do you guys mean?" Eliza asked Mike and Tally.

"Hello, girls~" Sloan's voice smirked as he was soon shown with Bree beside him at the door.

Mike then began to growl like a wolf towards the Blackburn couple as they were not what they appeared to be. 

"Sloan. This cheetah cub... Wh-Where did you get him?" Eliza asked as Tally began to growl protectively while swatting his paws towards the Blackburn couple. 

"I picked him up... On the savannah." Sloan replied. 

"You... Bought him?" Eliza asked, shocked. 

"No. I picked him up... Right off the ground." Sloan clarified darkly. 

"I told Sloan he shouldn't cut that rope ladder. Bree smirked as she came beside her husband. 

"It was you!" Eliza narrowed her eyes.

"See? What'd I tell you!" Mike replied, a bit cockily as her ego got to her. "I was right! You all owe me five bucks!" 

"Yes. Thank you so much for returning my knife to me." Sloan mocked as he picked up his knife while grinning towards Eliza and Mike.

"Ooh, kitten, you didn't drink all your milk," Bree cooed as she picked up Tally by the scruff on his neck, smirking at the cheetah cub's anger. "How are you ever going to grow big enough to make me a coat? It also seems that your wolf friend has gone away." 

"Oh, I'm afraid you'll have to miss the solar eclipse," Sloan then told the girls. "You can catch it on the Poaching Channel."

Eliza glared as that made her realize something. " _You_ built the fence!"

"Of course," Sloan smirked fiendishly. "Now, here's a question for your famous father: how many volts of electricity does it take to kill a thousand elephants? Hmm...?"

"You're never going to find out or that wolf you found last night!" Mike glared at Bree and Sloan. "You don't know what I can do!"

"Care to show us then?" Sloan smirked. "I dare you." 

"Well, if you're gonna be a jerk like that, then I'm not gonna show you or tell you!" Mike glared. "Just know that when the time is right, your worst nightmares will come true 'cuz you don't wanna mess with me and my friends!" 

**_"Michelene, this is not the way..."_ **A voice told Mike from in her head. **_"Your anger is getting to you... You shouldn't use these powers for greed or anger, you should use them for the greater good..."_**

Mike either ignored the voice or didn't hear it because she was too angry with Bree and Sloan right now to even care. This would cost her dearly.

* * *

Meanwhile, Debbie continued to complain about Eliza while riding with Boko to find the girl while Josh hugged Debbie's waist and Drake and Tuesday rode off in their usual way. 

"And then, my brat sister decided to run away from boarding school without any consideration for me, her only sister," Debbie ranted while Boko looked around for any clues into finding Eliza, Mike, or Darwin. "Yeah. After all I've done for her and the monkey."

Boko soon made Debbie stop as he saw something and soon looked over and found Sarah Wellington's sleep mask and also found tracks on the ground that looked like footprints.

"I think Boko found something." Josh said to Debbie as he came beside the African boy. 

"If it was just Eliza, I would say go on, go play in the jungle, but I am responsible for Donnie and I take that very seriously." Debbie continued.

"DEBBIE!" The other teenagers cried out.

Debbie looked over and soon came beside them and soon looked to the ground and saw what Boko saw.

"Looks like footprints." Drake said.

"Yeah... I bet this is where they went." Tuesday added.

"Brat sister?" Boko asked as he picked up a strand of red hair.

"Wow. You're good," Debbie smiled at him before they went back to go and hit the road. "Maybe we can make it to this 'Tembo Valley' before lunchtime."

"Tembo Valley?" Boko repeated curiously. 

"Yeah. Do you know it?" Tuesday then asked.

* * *

_**Back with the poachers, Mike, Eliza, Darwin, Donnie, and Tally...** _

"Well, I may not know what you can do, but I do know this, you girls are a couple of troublemakers," Sloan said as he tied Mike and Eliza up against each other with firm and tight knots. "First, you show up on my cheetah hunt. And then you jump from a train to same my rhino."

"He's not _your_ rhino." Eliza glared.

"Oh, really?" Sloan retorted. "And then somehow you knew the poachers had shot him at the river. Yet, you were on a train at the time."

"I told her about it." Mike defended.

"And how did _you_ find out then?" Sloan asked. "Weren't you on the train with her?"

"Well, I--" Mike was about to explain.

"And now you arrive in the jungle knowing about a fence," Sloan soon continued. "A fence which no one witnessed being built. So, my little troublemakers, who told you?"

"No one." Eliza then said.

"Are your parents working with that Jomo person?" Sloan asked.

"They don't even know we're here." Mike retorted.

"Then who is your source of information?" Sloan asked.

"None of your business, that's who!" Mike glared. "Now let me go or else you're gonna be in a world of hurt!" 

"You know too much for a couple of little girls," Sloan firmly told them. "I have too much invested in this operation to let anything get in my way. If you don't tell me who they are, you'll never see that family of yours again." he then threatened. 

Suddenly, the door opened to show Bree. "Sloan, I hear someone coming." she then told her husband. 

The poacher couple then went outside to investigate and shut the door behind them, leaving our heroes hostage.

"Mike, why don't you Wolf Out so that we can stop them?" Eliza complained.

"Don't you think I'm trying?" Mike glared. "I'm getting angry enough anyway." 

"What's going on?" Darwin panicked once they were alone. "I don't like the way that man is looking at us." 

"Guys, I saw them with fire sticks and then there was a loud sound." Tally warned the girls. 

"Explosives?" Eliza's eyes widened. "Oh, we've got to get out of here!"

"Man, these knots are tough without claws!" Mike complained. 

"I'll help." Tally offered before he began to bite on the ropes to help free them. 

"Go, Tally, go!" Eliza smiled. "That's it."

"Yes, that's it," Darwin rolled his eyes. "Get the cheetah involved again. If we hadn't gone out looking for them that night we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Hey, don't pin this whole thing on Tally!" Mike glared at the chimp. 

"Oh, I'm not," Darwin retorted. "Tally didn't sneak out without permission. Tally didn't run away from boarding school. Tally didn't trust those awful people who clearly don't like animals."

"I thought they were like me." Eliza defended.

"When are you going to see that no one's like you?" Darwin glared slightly. "What more do you need? The shaman gave you a gift. Use it!"

"Darwin, please!" Eliza cried.

"You know what I think?" Darwin soon sneered. "You don't know what to do with your powers."

"Darwin, for once in your life, just BE QUIET!" Eliza then snapped.

Darwin looked startled and frowned as that hurt him deeply.

"Man, Eliza, that was a bit harsh, especially since it came from you." Mike commented.

"Oh, like you're one to talk." Eliza muttered.

"Excuse you?" Mike glared. "You got something to say, you better say it to my face!"

* * *

**_Back outside..._ **

"Hey, can we help you?" Bree smiled innocently once she saw the teenagers.

"That'd be great." Tuesday smiled back.

"We're looking for my sister Eliza Thornberry and her new friend, Mike Mazinsky." Debbie added which was shown on the screen from inside the trailer.

Sloan then suddenly grabbed Debbie and Tuesday.

"HEY! GET OFF OF ME!" Tuesday suddenly cried out as she struggled. "You just made a big mistake, buddy!" 

Debbie Thornberry: Yes. I'm looking for my sister Eliza Thornberry and her friends.

"Girls!" Boko cried out and went to jump on Sloan's back to save the girls. 

"Boko!" Debbie and Tuesday cried out as the boy was soon hit against the trailer and he was suddenly knocked out. 

Drake and Josh soon went to save their girlfriends only for Bree to grab them and throw them against the trailer and also knocked them out.

"Not cool, bro..." Drake groaned sluggishly before he blacked out with his step-brother.

"Debbie! Tuesday!" Eliza cried out for her sister and her sister's best friend.

"Let's go save them!" Mike suggested and they soon burst right out of the door to stop the evil poacher couple. "You better let them go if you know what's good for you!"

"Certainly! If you tell me who is your source of information!" Sloan bribed as he kept a firm hold on Debbie and Tuesday. 

"We told you there's no one!" Eliza cried out. "We just guessed all of that stuff!"

"The fence and the explosives and--" Mike added before covering her mouth at the last part. 

"I've never mentioned explosives!" Sloan glared at the girls. "You're lying!"

"What's he talking about?!" Debbie asked Eliza and Mike. 

"Let them go before I go 'Wolf' on your butts!" Mike threatened.

Bree and Sloan laughed at that.

"Did you hear that, Bree?" Sloan smirked. "She's going to go wolf on us."

"Funny choice of words, especially since I've misplaced my wolf friend last night." Bree added. 

"Just let Debbie and Tuesday go, you bullies!" Mike glared. 

"Tell me or they go over the edge!" Sloan glared. 

"Just get rid of her, Sloan!" Bree glowered as she decided to grab hold of both Mike and Eliza to keep them from going towards the teenage girls as Sloan came to bring the girls over to the edge to possibly kill them. 

"Please!" Eliza begged tearfully. "They don't know anything about this!"

" **WHO TOLD YOU THESE THINGS?!** " Sloan growled.

"I can't tell you!" Eliza cried out.

"ELIZA!" Debbie and Tuesday panicked as they were about to be thrown over the edge. 

"Stop! Wait! I'll tell you," Eliza was on the verge of tears as a storm suddenly began to appear. "Mike and I know these things because... I can talk to animals." 

"NO!" Mike cried out as that sounded drastic. "Eliza, what have you done?!" she then let out a small groan as she seemed to grow a bit weak all of a sudden. 

And so, Eliza began to lose her special power of being able to talk to animals and Mike began to feel like her life was being sucked out of her. 

"Oh, let's get out of here!" Bree soon panicked as something wild began to happen once Eliza and Mike's secrets were revealed. 

Mike groaned as she fell to her knees as she looked weak.

 ** _"I'm disappointed, Michelene..."_ **A voice told Mike before the clouds formed into the shape of a great wolf spirit. **_"You let your anger get to you."_**

"Moro?" Mike blinked as she looked up. "Moro, I wanted to use my powers to free me and Eliza. Why wouldn't you let me?"

 ** _"You've been taking your powers for granted and letting greed and anger get your way,"_ **Moro told Mike. _**"Your parents would be ashamed of your greedy actions and arrogance in being a wolf, so I therefore temporarily suspend you from using your powers just to get your way."**_

"You're taking away my powers?!" Mike cried out. "You can't do that to me! How will I survive and save the day without my powers? I _need_ them!"

 ** _"Perhaps you should try other ways besides relying on your powers all the time or using them just to show off..."_ **Moro advised before her voice faded away. **_"The same for Eliza who will lose her powers of talking to animals since she told someone about them..."_**

"Moro, no, wait!" Mike cried out.

* * *

Moro's image soon disappeared. Mike soon growled in frustration and slammed her fists onto the ground in frustration. Bree and Sloan soon took off in their helicopter to get away from the storm and they had let go of Debbie and Tuesday.

"GIRLS!" Drake, Josh, and Boko cried out as the storm blew all around and they tried to get to Debbie and Tuesday.

"BOYS!" Debbie and Tuesday cried back as the storm blew them all over the place and they appeared to be separated.

"Please be all right..." Tuesday whispered tearfully.

Eliza soon came to the turned over trailer and hugged Donnie once she saw him. "Debbie, run, into the woods!" she then told her sister.

"Where are you going?" Debbie asked before she hugged their little brother.

"I have to get Tally!" Eliza replied as she crawled into the trailer and found the cheetah cub before picking him up. "Darwin, come on!"

Darwin soon began to chatter and tried to tell Eliza something, but now he couldn't.

"It's really gone." Eliza said softly before she took his hand and ran off with him.

"Come on, Eliza!" Mike told the girl as she soon came over to a floating log and used it as a boat. "Let's get out of here!"

"Drake, Josh, Boko, please be okay." Debbie said hopefully as they soon came onto the log with Eliza, Darwin, Donnie, and Tally.

* * *

Once they were all on the log, it soon flowed away into the river and they used it to ride away from the storm. 

"You okay, Mike?" Eliza asked her friend.

"They're gone... I can't do anything..." Mike groaned as she stared at herself, unable to transform or doing anything wolf-like which was her punishment for using her powers selfishly. 

The rain poured down with light thunder and flashing lightning as they took off into the night. One had to wonder and imagine what would happen the next day or if Mike and Eliza would ever get their special powers back. 


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning soon came as the log continued to travel down the river. Everything was soon being explained since the secrets were out in the open and there was nothing to risk, so Mike and Eliza decided to tell Debbie and Tuesday what was going on.

"You expect me to believe that a couple of years ago, you freed a warthog, but he was really a magic man who made it so you can talk to animals, but you had to keep it secret or else there'd be some tornado thing and you would lose your powers?" Debbie soon asked her younger sister. 

"Well... Yeah." Eliza shrugged as that was more or less obvious. 

"I knew it!" Debbie smirked. "That's why you're always sneaking out all the time with Darwin. And so, Mike, you come from a clan known as The Wolf-Shadowed People where your mom was born a wolf and was cursed with shadow powers later in life and they passed down onto you and your brother and sister?"

"Basically," Mike replied. "My brother Jamie got the shadow powers and my sister Jen got the wolf powers and somehow I lucked out and I get both of them... Well, I had both of them anyway."

"Did you say 'Jen'?" Tuesday asked. "As in Jennifer?"

"Yeah, my sister goes by 'Jen' a lot," Mike replied. "She says it was some sort of grade school thing when her old best friends used to call her that, one of them was named Tabitha."

Tuesday looked bashful then.

"...You okay, Tuesday?" Mike asked.

"I always hated that name... Tabitha..." Tuesday pouted before grinning bashfully at Mike. "This can't be a coincidence though. Debbie and I used to go to school with a girl named Jen."

"Yeah, before she just mysteriously disappeared," Debbie added. "I think your sister might be our friend, Mike... Now that I look at you closer, you remind me a bit of her."

"Yeah?" Mike asked. "...I guess you guys could be her old friends, but it's hard to... Say."

Mike and the teenage girls shared a long look with each other as there seemed to be something more than what they were all saying.

"Oh, by the way," Debbie then suddenly said to Eliza. " I have a few things to say to that monkey. Tell him that I don't appreciate it when he leaves pizza crusts under the seat cushions. Go ahead. Tell him." she then demanded and crossed her arms with a firm pout. 

"Debbie, I broke the rule," Eliza reminded her older sister. "I told about my powers, so I lost them." 

"You did that for us?" Tuesday asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah, but Eliza's not the only one who lost her powers," Mike replied. "I took advantage of my wolf blood, so I don't have mine either unless I deem myself worthy of having them again." 

"I can't talk to Darwin anymore," Eliza shook her head. "And the last thing I said to him was really mean. Now I can't even tell him I'm sorry."

This was truly a sad moment in the Thornberry family.

"Guys, I might not speak 'Monkey', but I think he's trying to tell us about the waterfall!" Debbie's eyes widened.

"Oh, my gosh!" Tuesday panicked as she grabbed her green hair. "What do we do?! My training hasn't prepared me for this!"

Darwin soon began to chatter as the river got choppier and choppier by the minute.

"I think he's trying to tell us something else." Mike then said.

Eventually, the log boat was shown to be riding down the river quickly and soon fell from the waterfall. Luckily enough, the group wasn't on the log boat anymore. They were soon all on the tree and were safe from crashing and drowning.

"Phew..." Tuesday sighed in relief. "I almost lost my cool there."

"Can't lost what you never had." Debbie teased.

"Oh, you are gonna get it!" Tuesday smirked at her best friend.

"We're here," Eliza said as they looked out to where they had ended up from the waterfall. "This must be Tembo Valley."

* * *

They soon found safe ground and began to run.

"Try to keep up, kiddo!" Mike told Donnie as they soon ran through the valley to make it to the eclipse in time.

"Come on!" Eliza added. "The eclipse is gonna start soon!"

As they ran, however, they soon touched what was thought to be solid ground before it broke free and they all fell inside of the hole together. Debbie ended up on the bottom first, so everyone else began to fall and land on her next as they were now underground and fell for a classic hunter's trap. 

"You okay, Deb?" Tuesday asked her best friend.

"I guess I'll survive." Debbie groaned.

"I don't know what just happened, but we have to get out of here." Mike soon said.

Darwin soon chattered to Eliza and brought over her glasses. Eliza smiled and then took them and put them back on her face.

"Wow. Darwin really watches out for you, doesn't he?" Debbie asked her younger sister in astonishment.

"Yeah," Eliza smiled at Darwin. "He's my best friend."

Darwin soon smiled back at her. Then suddenly, they heard the sounds of elephants trumpeting. 

"Did anyone else hear that?" Mike asked.

"The elephants!" Eliza gasped. 

Everyone soon rushed to the opening of the cave and found a herd of elephants gathering together as they followed each other. 

"That's a lot of elephants..." Mike remarked.

"Like, no kidding." Debbie replied. 

"There's also an electric fence not too far away." Tuesday added.

"Electric fence?!" Mike gasped. "That must've been the one that Sloan put up and those are the elephants that he and Bree want to kill!"

"It's a trap!" Eliza panicked. "They're all going to die and we can't even warn them!" 

"But can't you, like, making elephant noises or something?" Debbie asked.

"Debbie, I can't talk to them," Eliza sulked as she walked away from the sight of the elephant herd. "How can I help them? You don't understand. Shaman Mnyambo told me in a dream that he gave me my gift for a reason," she then sulked as she sat in a corner and hugged her knees. "It doesn't matter now. I lost it."

"I'm so sorry, Eliza." Mike said.

"No, Mike, I'm sorry," Eliza replied. "I let Bree and Sloan play me like a fiddle. I was a fool to trust them. I should've listened to you."

"Okay, enough with the 'poor me, I lost my magic powers' bit," Debbie said, a bit firmly as she came toward her younger sister. "Are you just going to sit there?"

"What am I supposed to do?" Eliza shrugged. "I'm just an ordinary girl now." 

"That's not what I remember." Tuesday remarked.

"Tuesday's right," Debbie agreed. "Eliza, ever since you were a little kid, you dragged home birds with broken wings and creepy toads and stuff. You didn't have special powers then. You just cared. Trust me, you were never ordinary."

Eliza soon looked back at her sister and cracked a small smile as that seemed to mean a lot to her.

"Yeah, that's all fine and dandy, but how are we gonna save those elephants?" Mike asked. 

Before anything else could be said or done, Bree and Sloan were soon shown in a helicopter since they were ready to put the elephants in for the big deep sleep. 

"Bree, take us into the valley. I want to watch this," Sloan told his wife before speaking into a walkie-talkie. "Everyone, take your places. This all must happen within seven minutes, do you understand? I made a deal with McLeach back in Australia."

* * *

As they went away, a certain vehicle was driving into the valley.

"Do you see the girls or Donnie?" Marianne asked her father-in-law as she drove the Comvee. 

"No, but Nigel, what do you make of that?" Radcliffe replied as he looked through his binoculars before passing them over to his son.

"Poachers!" Nigel gasped once he took a look and realized what was going on. "They're setting up explosives. The barbarians are going to frighten the elephants and make them stampede, right into that electric fence. Marianne, take us down there." he then told his wife urgently.

Marianne soon did as her husband suggested as this sounded gravely serious.

* * *

**_Meanwhile..._ **

"Guys, no!" Debbie panicked as Mike and Eliza began to climb down the hill to stop the elephants. "They'll stomp on you!"

"No, they won't!" Mike called out. "Elephants know when you're trying to help them."

"She's right!" Eliza added. 

"It's not too late to become ordinary!" Debbie soon called back.

"GIRLS!" Three familiar voices called out.

"Boys!" Debbie and Tuesday beamed once they saw Drake, Josh, and Boko come back on the Congocon and Tuesday's Spy Scooter. 

Tuesday and Debbie ran over to Drake and Josh, hugging them and kissing them all over their faces.

"How'd you get back?" Tuesday asked.

"It's a long story, but that Boko's one wicked dude, I'll tell ya that much." Drake smiled before giving Tuesday her helmet.

Mike and Eliza were nearly at the bottom before they suddenly stopped as Darwin screamed and fell farther than they did and was now dangling upside down since his vine rope caught his ankle. 

"Oh, Darwin." Mike sighed and rolled her eyes.

Eliza soon helped her chimp best friend get down and sorted him out. "Darwin, stay here. I'll be back. I have to stop them somehow. Make them turn around." she then told him before muttering to herself.

"We're gonna help them turn around," Mike corrected as she ran with Eliza. "Come on! This can't be too hard! I once had an elephant friend named Abelard to compete with Lu for the Lady Smythe Trophy." (as seen in **_Mike, Lu, & Og: Episode 207: The Big Game_**)

"Turn around! You have to go back!" Eliza called out, but the elephants kept on moving forward before she climbed up one elephant and saw the lone elephant up front. "We have got to get to the front of the herd."

"Of course, now to get there safely and carefully." Mike remarked. 

"Set off the first round of explosives now!" Sloan commanded.

Just as the poachers there were about to, they noticed something just as Nigel and Radcliffe hid away after doing something. 

"The wires have been cut." The poacher told Sloan through his walkie-talkie.

"Set off the second round!" Sloan then demanded.

Eventually, the other explosives went off which began to startle the elephants and the lead elephant began to make them all stampede towards the electric fence.

"Yaugh!" Mike yelped as she nearly fell off of her elephant. "Eliza!"

"Oh, think of something quick," Eliza panicked to herself. "Think of something."

"If only we had some way to burn out the electric fence!" Mike pulled on her pigtails.

Eliza stopped to think before she pulled out her father's medal and soon decided to toss it out to the electric fence. Once it made contact, the electricity began to burn out and it soon stopped.

"Please stop." Eliza begged quietly. 

The elephants soon seemed to be finally stopping and settling down. 

"I think it worked, Eliza!" Mike smiled.

However, there were more explosions that startled the elephants again.

"OH, NO!" The girls soon panicked as the elephants began to start up again.

"How can we make you understand us?" Mike sulked before she suddenly thought of something. "Wait a minute! Phaedra told us something before we got sent away to boarding school."

"That's right! Oh... What was it?" Eliza replied before she soon remembered and kicked the elephant's ear a little. "Behind the ear!"

The lead elephant felt that and soon began to move away from the electric fence. 

"We did it!" Eliza beamed. "Oh, let's get out of here."

"Maybe I belong in the jungle after all," Mike sighed to herself. "But how am I going to survive without my own animal instincts?" 

The lead elephant soon trumpeted to the other elephants and they soon began to leave the fence, thus foiling Bree and Sloan's plan.

* * *

"They're turning around!" Sloan snapped. " **START SHOOTING!** "

 ** _"But... There's a couple of kids down there!"_ **One of the poachers replied, showing some standards.

"I don't care!" Sloan glared. "Take down those elephants. I'll take care of the kids."

The elephants kept walking along quietly.

"It'll be okay, you guys, we're almost out of here." Mike reassured the elephants. 

Then suddenly, Eliza was grabbed by Sloan, snatching her right off of the elephant. 

"ELIZA!" Mike cried out as she soon jumped as high as she could and grabbed Eliza's legs which nearly lowered the helicopter and rope ladder, but it kept going.

"You will regret this." Sloan glared down at the girls. 

"We don't care!" Eliza glared back. "What you're doing is awful!"

"And what you're doing is stupid!" Sloan retorted.

"I swear, I will kill you when I get my hands on you!" Mike glared. "I'll rip you to shreds!"

"Shame you won't be here to help me carry out the ivory." Sloan smirked before he soon threw down both of the girls before he kept on riding the rope ladder. 

Mike and Eliza screamed as they soon splashed in the water below and got dragged away through the strong current. "Oh, no!" they then panicked.

* * *

Meanwhile, a different helicopter was shown to be riding through the sky.

"Where's Mike?" Eddy complained as he looked through the window. "I can't see her!"

"Don't worry, we'll find her!" Double D reassured as he drove the helicopter with Jimmy. "Jimmy, do you see her?" he then asked the boy genius.

"Not very well if she is down there," Jimmy replied. "It's probably because of the eclipse."

"Aw, great!" Eddy complained.

"Eddy, be patient!" Ed frowned at his friend as he looked through a basket of food. "Are there in-flight peanuts for this ride?"

Jimmy and Double D rolled their eyes as they looked all around for Mike.

"Hmm... I wonder what those Loxodonta Africana are doing down there?" Jimmy soon pondered as he glanced out the window.

"Who cares? Just look for Mike!" Eddy replied.

"Why me?" Double D mumbled about Eddy's impatience. "With friends like you, I swear..."

* * *

Bree and Sloan soon hovered over the elephants who looked very angry with them.

"Oh, I can't get a shot from here," Sloan glared. "Bree, go lower."

Bree soon attempted to lower the helicopter as Sloan held out his shotgun, ready to shoot and kill the elephants. However, the lead elephant soon grabbed the rope ladder with his trunk and pulled down hard on the rope ladder. Sloan soon panicked as the rope ladder soon snapped and Bree lost control of the helicopter. Sloan soon fell into the elephant herd and once the helicopter crashed, Bree fell in after him. 

"Okay, think, Mazinsky, think!" Mike said to herself, trying not to panic. "What would you do if you were on the Albonquetine Island?"

There seemed to be no solution before the girls splashed around and they soon went to a lower level. They soon saw a certain man on the shore with Ndudi who stood beside him. The man soon brought out his wooden staff and stuck it in the water to allow the girls to climb onto it so that they could get out of the water. Once Mike saw it, she grabbed onto it and Eliza climbed in after her as they came out of the water. 

"Thanks, dude." Mike gasped and panted once she and Eliza came to dry land.

"Shaman Mnyambo, I'm sorry. I messed everything up," Eliza frowned at the man as she came to him. "Mike, this is the shaman who gave me my powers when I was younger."

"Ah." Mike simply nodded in the background. 

"I couldn't make them understand," Eliza continued as she looked ready to cry again. "If I hadn't broken the rule... I could've saved them."

"But you did save them," Shaman Mnyambo smiled. "See for yourself."

The elephants were shown to be happy and alive, all thanks to the help of Eliza and Mike. 

"And you did this, not with your gift, but with your heart," Shaman Mnaymbo told the bespectacled girl. "If this is what you can do without your powers you have a greater destiny than I've even known. I'm going to grant you your powers back." he then informed.

"You are?" Eliza smiled thankfully. "Really?"

"There is one condition," Shaman Mnaymbo then told her. "About your sister. How well do you think she can keep a secret?"

"Hey, what about me?" Mike asked. "Can't you give me my powers back too?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to earn your powers back some other way." Ndudi said to Mike.

"You... Speak English?" Mike asked as she looked at the native girl. "Are you his daughter or something?"

"No, I like in this valley's village with my brother, Boko, who helped your sister and her friends," Ndudi explained. "I can also speak other languages with this necklace handed down from my family for generations. I am sorry you lost your own powers, but perhaps you should learn not to depend on them all the time."

"How do I solve my problems then?" Mike asked. "How am I supposed to survive without my animal instinct that's been apart of my family for generations?"

"Sometimes there are other ways to solve problems like with you and Eliza and the elephants... Think about it, Mike Mazinsky..." Ndudi said before she mysteriously disappeared with the shaman.

Mike's eyes widened before she sighed sharply and seemed to be on her own in this situation. "So Eliza gets a happy ending and I get the crap end of the stick," she then groaned. "Man, why does everybody gotta be against me in this adventure?"

"Nobody is against you, Mike Mazinsky," Ndudi told her. "You just need to see that you don't always need to be a wolf to solve your problems such as Eliza speaking with her gift of the gab to solve hers."

* * *

The eclipse soon ended as it seemed that this story was wrapping up nicely. However, even though it was bright and shiny in the valley again, Sloan was still left in the dark once he got up off of the ground to see that he had very angry company right behind him. The elephants looked like they wanted to stomp on Sloan for what he tried to do to them as Bree soon woke up next to her husband. However, there was even worse company just for them.

"Don't move!" One ranger glared once he arrived with others, along with the Thornberry family. "You're under arrest!"

"Take your hands off me!" Bree demanded. 

"This is all a mistake!" Sloan cried out, trying to plead innocence. "I can explain everything!"

"We were trying to _help_ the elephants!" Bree soon added.

The rangers ignored their protests and went to properly dispose of the two poachers to punish them for their misdeeds.

* * *

"Need a ride?" Debbie soon asked as she rode by with Drake, Josh, Tuesday, Boko, Tally, and Donnie. 

"Ew. Brat sister." Boko greeted Eliza.

"Debbie...?" Mike called firmly. 

"I don't know where he got that." Debbie shrugged innocently as they rode off.

"All right, guys, let's go home." Tuesday suggested. 

They rode along for a little bit until suddenly, they stopped again.

"Debbie, stop!" Eliza suddenly cried out. "There's Darwin!" Once the Congocon stopped, the younger Thornberry sister ran towards her best friend. 

"I think I'd like a chimp back home instead of Megan." Drake smirked at Josh.

"I'm not sayin' nuthin'." Josh replied.

"Now I know you think I talk too much," Darwin rambled to himself as he turned his back on Eliza. "So, from now on, I'm just going to sit back and quietly observe and--" 

"Yeah, like that'll ever happen." Eliza smirked as she soon came beside him. 

"Eliza?" Darwin asked, sounding touched once he turned around to see her. "Did you just talk to me?"

Eliza giggled and she soon went to Darwin and hugged him happily as they reunited and made amends once they could talk to each other again. 

"What a bittersweet ending." Mike shrugged at herself. 

"Mom! Dad!" Eliza beamed once she saw her parents and ran towards them. 

"Eliza!" Marianne called as she ran towards her.

"Poppet!" Nigel added.

Eliza soon happily hugged her parents. Radcliffe and Cornelia soon decided to join in on the family reunion as it was a very happy day for the family. 

"I guess you're going back to your family, huh?" Debbie asked as she stood with Boko from afar. 

Boko soon spoke to her with a small smile.

"Yeah..." Debbie replied before she saw him trying to give her watch back to her, but she decided it would be nice if he had it as she smiled at him. "Oh, please. Keep it. You know... Friend."

Boko soon kept the watch as he smiled back at her. "Friend." 

The two soon shared a hug and it was time to say goodbye.

"I wonder if we'll ever see that guy again?" Josh commented.

"Somehow, I doubt it." Drake replied.

Ndudi soon came by to take Boko back home before she suddenly kissed both Drake and Josh on the cheek as she walked off back to her and Boko's village. Debbie and Tuesday had their hands firmly on their hips with glares as Drake and Josh chuckled bashfully from the kisses they were given.

* * *

Later, Nigel sat with Mike and Eliza as they watched the elephants walking together and celebrated their lives together since they were alive with the help of Mike and Eliza.

"Pretty amazing, huh, Dad?" Eliza smiled at her father. "The legend was right." 

"It was indeed, Poppet, but I still wonder why they gather during an eclipse?" Nigel replied.

"I dunno," Mike shrugged. "Maybe the elephants feel safe."

"Safe?" Nigel replied. 

"Yeah, I agree with Mike," Eliza added. "Maybe because it's the one day that everything changes. The little moon blocks the powerful sun, so maybe--" 

"So maybe they have reason to hope," Nigel then said as he thought about what the girls said. "Maybe these intelligent creatures believe that by standing together as they have done for centuries, they may, one day, live without fear of man's greed."

"I think that's an interesting idea." Mike nodded.

"Me too, Mike." Nigel agreed.

"You're such a good dad, Mr. Thornberry." Mike smiled softly.

"Oh, thank you, I try my best." Nigel smiled back.

One elephant soon came beside Mike and Eliza and then trumpeted at them with a smile.

"I don't know, of course, but I swear she's thanking you." Nigel said to the girls.

"I think so, too, Dad." Eliza smiled.

Mike looked soft as Nigel and Eliza shared a special and tender father/daughter moment with each other.

* * *

Later on, Mike, Eliza, and Tally soon looked around the main grounds to look for Akela.

"Tally, do you see her anywhere?" Eliza asked the cheetah cub. 

"This is where we always played." Tally replied. 

"Don't worry, we'll find her," Mike reassured. "I just wish I could track down her scent," she then looked around before seeing an adult cheetah. "I think I found her." she then pointed out.

"MOM!" Tally called out once he saw the adult cheetah and ran towards her.

"Tally?" Akela asked before looking relieved. "Tally!"

"Mom, I'm back!" Tally smiled once he reunited with his mother. 

"Oh, my baby," Akela smiled back as she nuzzled with her lost cub. "I thought I'd lost you."

"Akela, we're so sorry," Mike said to the mother cheetah. "Eliza and I should've listened to you."

"So sorry." Eliza added.

"I know you are," Akela said to them. "Tally's home now and safe. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Mike and Eliza said with small smiles.

The cheetah cubs soon playfully tackled Eliza and Mike and licked their faces which made the girls laugh once they hit the ground. 

"Eliza! Cut the cheetah chatter, and let's go!" Debbie's voice soon called out. 

"Ooh. Gotta go." Eliza then said to her cheetah friends. 

"Bye, guys." Tally said to Eliza and Mike. 

"I'll miss you guys," Eliza smiled before she went to leave with Mike. "See you next time."

Mike began to go off with Eliza before looking over as she heard something before seeing a helicopter coming by and soon landed and the doors opened. Someone soon came out first.

* * *

"Jimmy Neutron?" Mike asked the Nicktoon boy genius. "What are _you_ doing here?'

"I brought a delivery for you to take you back home." Jimmy replied.

"A delivery?" Mike raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly, out came Ed, Edd, and Eddy.

"Ed! Double D! Eddy!" Mike gasped with wide eyes.

"MIKE!" The Eds beamed before they soon ran to each other and had a friendly group hug with each other.

"Guys! What're you doing here?" Mike asked. "You didn't have to come... How did you get here anyway?"

"I found a way to track you down and once I did, I built a ride for the boys to come and find you and we left Nicktropolis as soon as possible," Jimmy explained. "They really missed you, Mike."

"We sure did!" Ed cried. "Especially Eddy!"

"Uh, hey, Ed, take it easy, huh?" Eddy replied nervously.

"You missed me a lot, huh, Eddy?" Mike asked.

"Well, I, uh..." Eddy grinned bashfully.

"I really missed you too, Eddy," Mike said as she hugged him. "I'm so glad you guys came back for me. I was starting to think no one back in Cartoon Network City cared about me."

"Why on Earth would you think that?" Double D asked. "You know we all care about you, especially our parents! Heck, our dads do whatever they can to protect you like they're your guardian angels or something!"

"If that's not love, I don't know what is," Eddy replied. "But right now, let's take you home, Mike."

Mike smiled and nodded before looking back at the Thornberry family. "Let me go say goodbye first," she then said. "This is the first time I've felt like I was with a real family."

Jimmy and the Eds shared a look.

"Take your time, Mike," Jimmy replied. "We understand."

Mike smiled before she went back to the Thornberry family campground and went to share one last goodbye once it looked like she was ready to go back to Cartoon Network City. 


End file.
